Vigilante Vongola
by RebelzHeart
Summary: 400 years ago, Giotto created the Vongola. 400 years later, his descendant, Tsuna, wants to destroy it. When Tsuna and his guardians are sent back to the past, they start to see the Vongola as something that's not as dark as they thought it was... and maybe something worth protecting. Time Travel AU
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I said I'd repost/rewrite this, and I did. The changes aren't that noticable until chapter 9, when they finally time travel... so, yeah. Sorry about deleting this.

 **WARNINGS!** AU. **TSUNA WILL SEEM OOC. HE IS NOT OOC. HE IS BEING MEAN ON PURPOSE!**

" **400 YEARS IN THE FUTURE" (Future Reference: Future)**

 _Calm._ He slowed his breathing, allowing the faint sound to almost disappear. And he struck quickly, his sword slashing an arc of shining silver in the air as the metal kissed flesh.

"Is that all you can do?" His opponent asked, raising an eyebrow. "How weak. I was told that the Yamamotos were a skilled swordsmen lineage… were my sources wrong?"

"Sh-shut up!" Takeshi yelled, losing the battle to keep calm. How dare he do this? How could he hurt Takeshi's father so badly?

His opponent didn't even bother to reply and delivered a swift punch to Takeshi's stomach.

 _Pain._ How could a punch hurt this much? Flames… he must have put flames in his punch.

Another punch. A kick to the head. He struggled but in the end the pain took over most of his senses.

 _It hurts._ Takeshi thought as he sank to the ground, eyes closed. He could barely think through the burning pain. _No._

"No!" He yelled, forcing himself to stand up on shaky, unstable legs as he raised his sword… _So heavy… why don't I just drop it? I can't do this…_

"Just give up." His opponent ordered. "Don't risk your life for something that isn't your fight, Yamamoto Takeshi."

"No!" Takeshi repeated, the word repeating itself in his head over and over. "I can't let you kill tou-san! Why—why are you doing this anyways?"

A flash of irritation crossed the other boy's features. "None of your business." The heir to the Vongola famaglia spat out.

"Tou-san… he's important to the Vongola… irreplaceable… he's second to only Varia! He can still fight— he's worthless to you dead—"

"I'm killing him because he's irreplaceable to the Vongola." Sawada Tsunayoshi cut in sharply.

Takeshi widened his eyes. "Why?" He whispered.

"Because I'm going to destroy the Vongola." Sawada replied icily. "Your father's in a near dead state anyways. My flames' burns are painless… his death won't hurt him. Now get out of my way."

" _NO!"_ Takeshi screamed, running forwards, only to be stopped by his body suddenly refusing to move.

"There is a way to stop me from killing him." Sawada mused. "I wonder if you'd be willing to do it." He tilted his head to the side. "If you want to stop me from killing your father, join me. Help me in reaching my goal."

"Never!" Takeshi yelled angrily. "Why would I join someone like _you_!? You make me sick!"

"You're paralyzed, injured, and I've burned your sword arm." Takeshi's eyes flickered to his arm in shock. _It doesn't hurt… it almost feels nice…_ "Are you ready to give up?"

"N- no—not if it means that tou-san will die—"

A strange look crossed over Sawada's features, the he sighed. "What a shame." The teenager said, his voice filled with pity. "Destroying all of the Yamamoto lineage will be better in the end though, I suppose…"

There was something in his eyes… regret? No. This boy had been trained from a young age to kill, just like Takeshi had been trained to defend and kill when needed.

Perhaps Takeshi had never killed, but the heir to the Vongola must have been tested to make sure he wasn't too soft. Sawada was surely a cold hearted murderer.

Tsuna held out his hands and warm orange flames flickered to life inside of them. Then there were blue flames, dancing towards the orange flames and turning orange as well, magically changing color.

"The blue flames are pretty." Takeshi said out loud. "So are the orange ones. They look warm and welcoming… like they don't care about who or what you are."

Sawada blinked at him, and smiled. "The blue flames are yours. The orange ones are mines. Flames represent yourself, you know."

Takeshi scowled at him. "Like you could be warm and welcoming." He spat. "You're nothing but a murderer."

A look of pain crossed over Sawada's features, and his hands dropped to his lap, the flames flickering out of sight.

"I suppose that I must seem that way to you, eh?" Sawada asked softly. "A heartless, coldblooded killer… you must hate me, the one who's about to kill your father. I'm not all bad. I'm only sixteen, you know."

"How many people have you killed?" Takeshi asked angrily.

The Vongola heir met Takeshi's eyes, and for a moment they looked cold and merciless, a harsh, almost black orange, but they flickered back into their light orange before Takeshi could register anything.

"I don't know." Sawada finally said, sounding miserable. "I've killed so many that I've lost count. You'll be up in the millions, I'm sure."

Takeshi drew back, horrified.

"Liar." He whispered. "You couldn't have killed so much that you don't remember how much… you can't have…"

"You're right." Tsuna agreed, and lifted a shoulder, chuckling bitterly. "I do remember. Exactly 98 people… and I remember everything about them. My first kill was an old man who had killed all his life with the sick mindset that whenever he killed someone he would live a year longer."

"He was your first kill." Takeshi replied. "Of course you'd remember him."

Sawada shook his head. "That's not all. He liked milk and hated spicy things. Acted like a whiny child and took to doodling with the blood of his victims. He made me sick. But you know what? Vongola makes me even more sick than he did."

Takeshi widened his eyes. "Why?"

"Do you really want to know?" Sawada asked. "The Mafia is the dark side of the world. The murderers, the people who gamble with die of bones and cards of skin. Eventually the darkness will consume you."

"I'm already in the darkness." Takeshi replied angrily. "I was born into this world!"

"They cheered him on." Sawada said in disgust. "They clapped him on the back and shouted words of congratulations. They smiled and turned to me and said 'Be like this when you're older. He's a wonderful role model.'"

"How…"

"I'd destroying the Vongola." Sawada repeated. "I'm destroying that terrifying world."

"No!" Takeshi shouted. "You can't! You're just like them… you… you've killed so many people! You're just like them—"

Sawada stood up. "I'm not just like them." He replied. "Do you know why?"

He was scared to know. He didn't want to get involved in this… the words that came out of the young Vongola's mouth terrified him. But he was already involved. His father… "Why?" He croaked.

"Because ever since that first kill, I've never smiled."

"You're never going to smile." Takeshi informed Sawada. "You'll keep on living his miserable life… and eventually you _will_ smile." Takeshi forced the smile that he always had at call and beck onto his lips. "You'll become what you once despised."

"I'll kill myself first." Sawada replied.

"No you won't. I won't let you. If you ever smile, and become satisfied with that life, I'll make sure you live."

"How?" Sawada asked. "You'll be dead by then."

"No I won't." Takeshi replied. "Because I'm taking you up on your offer right now. I'm going to join you and help you to destroy the Vongola… as long as you don't kill."

0o0o0o0o0o0

" **400 Years Past" (Future Reference: "Past")**

Mikuri Samido was an unfortunate man. When he finally secured a job at the post office, he had been grateful. But when he was forced across half the country in order to deliver messages… well, even his knowledge of 28 languages wasn't much use against the rapid fire Italian that the furious man had screamed at him.

Indeed, G was a man to be feared.

For a moment Mikuri leaned against the screen door, panting slightly as a sweet, sad sound reached his ears. And in that moment he was tempted to just lie down and listen, but he couldn't. Not with G's terrifying face looming in his mind.

Sad to interrupt the sound, Mikuri knocked on the door.

"Asari-san?" Mikuri panted as the screen door opened revealing a shocked looking Japanese man.

"Y-yes?" The man asked, albeit a bit hesitantly. "You're the mailman, right?"

"Erm… yes. Cross-country… or more like cross-planet… but anyways, G-sama has requested that you are given this letter ASAP."

"G?" Asari repeated, looking slightly confused. "Why would he be writing to me? I haven't had contact with him and Giotto in half a year!"

Mikuri panted. "Something about danger. Mafia. Flames. I'm not quite sure…" But he was beating it out of there. He shoved the letter at Asari, mumbled a quick "here you go!" and dashed off as though hell's hounds were on his feet.

Asari blinked at Mikuri's quickly retreating form, and tilted his head to the side. "What was _that_ about?" He murmured to himself, then rethought it. _Actually… scratch that question. What did G do this time…?_

Ah, right. The letter in his hands had smudged ink, but his name was unmistakable in G's scribbled script that probably came from copying Giotto's work.

The eighteen (almost nineteen) year old frowned at the envelope. It wasn't like G to write something so messily… for all his hotheadedness and eagerness to speed things up, G was an impeccably neat and organized person.

For a moment Asari wondered what was in the envelope curiously, then he slapped himself in the forehead. _Idiot… open it and find out what it says! It's for you, isn't t?_

Ah, he was a real idiot sometimes.

He quickly opened it, and blinked at G's quick writing, frowning slightly when he realized that it was in Italian. His Italian wasn't all that fluent…

 _Asari,_

 _Well remember that vigilante group that Giotto made to oppose the land-greedy tyrant, Cormelien? Well… erm… stuff happened and we pissed off a lot of rich dudes and… well… I'll get straight to the point.  
We're in a LOT of trouble. Actually, just the other day some guy tried to assassinate Giotto… an incredibly well known assassin by the name of "Alaude". We actually had to get Simon to help us. It was embarrassing to get help from him. I can protect Giotto by myself, dammit!  
Well… actually, I can't. The other day Giotto got hurt and… I'm the one to blame. If I weren't here, burdening Giotto, he might not have gotten hurt. Anyways, we need serious help.  
Come over and I'll… I'll… don't make me say it!... fine, I'll owe you. I hate owing people… anyways, come to Italy, Flute freak, and we'll take it from there._

 _G_

 _P.S. Terminate the I owe you part, okay? I do NOT owe you….!_

Asari couldn't help the smile that flitted to his face. Typical G, so hotheaded and loyal.

Okay. He would do it. But first he would need a weapon… Asari's eyes flickered over to his beloved flute, running his fingers over the smooth engraved surface for one last time as he bowed his head.

 _It will be worth it._ He told himself. _Giotto and G are worth far more than a silly old instrument. I could always get a new flute, but friends are irreplaceable._

Well, it was a good thing that the antique shop had been so eager to buy his flute for this long a time. It was finally time to put the weighty price of his flute to good use, and get himself an even more useful sword.

He tried to find a piece of paper to write on, then paused.

 _Actually… I'll get there as soon as possible. Writing would just waste time, and I'll get there before the paper does anyways._

Time to prepare for battle.


	2. When The Rain Meets Storm

**A/N:** The first 7 or so chapters are actually just an intro, kind of like a prequel, but not really? This is a side story, so it'll be slowly and irregularly updated, so please bear with me? Although this story sucks anyways, so I guess it won't make a difference…

 **10** **th** **Generation Time**

"Boss! Boss, are you alright?" Hayato demanded as he ran over to Tsuna, freezing when he caught sight of Takeshi. "B-boss?" He stammered, confused. "Who is he?"

"This…" Tsuna's eyes flickered over to the swordsman. "This is Yamamoto Takeshi. He'll be joining us."

Hayato sighed, and narrowed his eyes, frowning at Takeshi. "Left and right, you'll make allies. How can we be sure he's not an enemy?"

Tsuna ran a hand through his hair and dropped to the floor of the mostly bare two-room hotel. "We can't." Was Tsuna's answer, and a weary frown grew on his features. "Speaking of enemies, we should probably be changing hotels soon, right?"

Hayato instantly snapped to attention. "Yeah. I've already made the arrangements to stay at the Cormik hotel… it's rated only one and a half stars though. We're running out of money."

"Erm… how exactly do you earn money?" Takeshi asked meekly, feeling like a child as he raised his hand in the air. "You don't steal it, do you?"

Tsuna blinked. "Of course we don't steal!" He exclaimed, turning red as he waved his hands wildly in front of his face. "We just well…" He turned redder. "We—um—go to underground fighting arenas once in a while… only when we're desperate, of course… and we collect the winner's money."

Takeshi didn't regret his choice, no when he other option was his father's death but… this was what he had signed up for? "Any other ways?" He asked.

"I take on some odd jobs here and there." Tsuna said thoughtfully.

"And I occasionally take an assassination target…" Hayato mused.

"Welcome to the life of the _Annietare!_ " Both boys exclaimed, and then paused and frowned at the exact same time.

"Annie?" Takeshi repeated, confused. "Isn't that like… erm… 'Little Orphan Annie'? Like 'Tommorow' and 'It's a Hard Knock Life'?"

The two turned to him with confused expressions. "Huh?"

"N-never mind."

He could tell that his face was burning and he felt incredibly embarrassed that he even thought of mentioning it to them. It was an American musical and while well known on the other side of the world… well, Italy might have had a copy of it somewhere… he really needed to stop making these butterfly effect type thoughts.

"So, your goal is to destroy the Vongola?"

"Basically." It was kind of amazing how calm Tsuna seemed.

"So… what exactly do we do?" Takeshi asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Isn't it obvious, sword freak?" Hayato demanded, shooting Takeshi a piercing, cold glare. "We're planning a coup d'état."

"O-h…" Takeshi trailed off, hoping that they would elaborate without him needing to seem like an idiot and ask even more questions.

Tsuna gave him a small smile. "Don't worry about it for now." He assured Takeshi.

Takeshi, seeing the smile, couldn't help the smile that rose to his face and laughed. "A coup d'état, right?" He asked with a natural, but forced cheer. "Sound like fun."

"Liar." Tsuna said calmly.

Hayato shot Tsuna a slightly curious, yet oddly determined look, and turned to Takeshi. "You can't fool us." The green eyed delinquent informed Takeshi. "Stop pretending. Tsuna-sama won't judge you."

Takeshi's smile slipped, and he blinked, slightly uncertain. When had his false smile become natural? When had he learned to keep his mask permanent? Had this happened recently, or had it happened a long time ago?

"What are you talking about?" He asked.

Hayato's face turned red and he pulled out a piece of dynamite. "If you keep acting like this I'll blow you up." He threatened.

Tsuna raised an eyebrow. "Hayato." He warned, orange flashing through his eyes.

Hayato's eyes flickered to Tsuna, and after what seemed like a major internal conflict for a few seconds, bowed his head, raised it, stared at Tsuna, and got down on all fours. Within seconds he was screaming for forgiveness.

"I'm sososososo sorry boss!" He cried. "As payment I'll explode this bomb on my hand so that I'll feel the pain that—"

"Stooooppp! Don't do it, Hayato! Remember the last time you did that? Don't remake that mess—getting attacked was bad enough, I had to fight them off all by myself… though, come to think of it, I came up with X-Burner because of that fight… that's not the point!—Hayato, you're not allowed to hurt yourself!"

There was a barrage of loud, panicked screaming.

Despite himself, Takeshi couldn't help it. He laughed.

It was as though a silent curtain were drawn between them. Tsuna and Hayato turned to him with wide eyes, their expressions clearly saying: _Sorry, but I thought that you just laughed. Clearly I'm having hearing problems, right? ...riiiiiight? Oi, your lack of answer is worrying me…_

"Sorry." Takeshi apologized even though he didn't feel sorry at all. Tsuna and Hayato obviously didn't buy the apology either, if their irritated expressions (well, only Hayato, really) were anything to go by. "It's just… you two were so funny together."

"Excuse me?" Tsuna echoed, sounding bewildered.

"Well… watching you two interact is just really funny. Seeing how panicked you're both getting is hilarious."

 _You're crazy._ It was pretty easy to read their expressions and Takeshi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"We're all friends, right? So stop giving me that look!"

"What the heck, sword freak!?" Hayato demanded angrily. "When'd you decide that we were friends, huh? I thought you just joined us out of necessity! I never agreed to be your friend!"

"Maa, maa, Gokudera-kun, we're definitely friends!"

"Idiot! Don't decide those types of things by yourself!"

It was strange. Takeshi felt… calm. Cool. He felt like _smiling_. He shouldn't. They people were criminals… outlaws even to the mafia. Why was he _laughing_ with them?

Tsuna laughed as he watched them. "I see what you mean, Takeshi. And you can call Hayato by his first name. He won't mind."

"YES I WILL!"

"Okay, Hayato-kun!"

"Shut the hell up! Are you deaf!? I told you not to call me that! And what's with the weird suffix!?"

"Erm… Hayato… Takeshi's Japanese so he adds suffixes at the end of… hieeee, Hayato, don't blow this place up! We're running out of money and we can't afford to attract attention to ourselves!"

"I'm sososososo sorry! I will proceed to punish myself for this horrible thoughtless subordinate…"

"You really don't have to do that…"

"Ahahaha, this is fun!"

"Not helping!"

0o0o0o0o0

"Are you any closer to tracking him down, Coyote?"

There was a moment of hesitation before regret flickered in Coyote's eyes. "No, Nono. Sawada Tsunayoshi's left no traces… it's as though he never existed."

Nono gritted his teeth and the metal fork he held into his hand bent in half. "I need to find him." He murmured. "I had hoped to stop him… for the boy's sake. But now…"

"He's become too much of a threat." Bouche snarled. "It's up to us to eliminate him."

Once upon a time, perhaps some sorrow or a bit of regret would have weighed on his conscience. But Tsunayoshi had done too much. Gone too far. Not even for the young, smiling boy that had once happily called him "Grandfather" could he allow mercy.

 _Nobody hurts my family and gets away with it_. He thought, but couldn't muster the anger that should have come easily to him.

All he could think of was Tsuna's crying face as he screamed out in pain…

 _Why? Why did it come down to this?_

"It's no use having regrets now, Nono." Coyote said as though reading Nono's mind. "It's too late to back out. He's declared war on the Vongola. We must defend ourselves."

 _Defend? Is that how we justify this? Attacking a boy who only wanted answers?_ Nono wondered bitterly. _No… he doesn't only want answers now. He wants the destruction of the Vongola. He's murdered… he has become tainted with the blood of our dark world._

"We have to do _it_." Bouche said. "I'm not fond of this method… it makes me feel like a coward, but this is the only way to definitely have him out of the picture."

 _That's right._ Nono thought, shoving away any nostalgia that lingered in his mind. He took a deep breath, preparing himself for the despicable words that would come from his mouth.

"Get Reborn to eliminate him."

Bouche gave him a coy smile. "Right away, sire."

It was too late for regrets. Nono stood up, eyes flashing dark gold as he turned to Coyote. "Tell our subordinates…" He ordered. "…to prepare for war."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 **1** **st** **Generation's Time**

"Giotto! Giotto! Hey, are you okay?"

"G- G?" Giotto groaned as he sat up. Pain was in his—oh, just about everywhere, really.

What was that sound that he heard? Soft and lilting… music?

"Asari!?" Giotto exclaimed in shock as he turned to face the black haired man, then choked in pain and lay back down.

Asari's eyes opened and he stared at Giotto for a moment, the smiled and dipped his head in acknowledgement. "It's nice to see you're well, Giotto." Asari greeted with a smile. "I was worried there for a moment."

"What…" Giotto's eyes flew to the flute, and he frowned. "Why are you playing such a cheap thing, Asari? Where's your one of a kind flute?"

"Oh, that?" Asari laughed and waved a hand. "I… uh…" His eyes flickered to the ground. "…lost it."

He could tell instantly that Asari was lying. "Don't lie to me, Asari." Giotto said sharply. "Where is it?"

Asari smiled at Giotto. "I just forgot it in Japan is all." He replied.

"Forgot it my (insert word)." G snorted. "He sold it, Giotto."

"Sold it?" Giotto repeated in shock, blinking at Asari in confusion. "B-but it was your mother's flute!" He protested. "Why would you sell it? It was precious to you! I don't understand why…"

"He sold it for _us_ , Giotto." G snarled. "When he heard that we were in trouble he decided to sell his flute to buy swords in order to help us."

"B-but—" Giotto was at loss for words. "Asari! Your flute!" Was all that came out of his mouth. He couldn't properly formulate the words to shape his meaning.

Asari sighed. "Yes, Giotto." He agreed. "My flute."

"B-but…"

"Snap out of it!" G exclaimed sharply, snapping his fingers in front of Giotto's face. "Yeah, the flute freak sold his flute to help protect us! Can you get over it now?"

Giotto nodded numbly.

"It's fine, Giotto-san." Asari sighed. "You really don't have to worry over it. It makes no difference to me anyways. As long as I can play my flute, I'm happy."

Giotto sighed. "But I want to make it up to you." He muttered.

"Then let me join you." Asari offered. "You're making a group to oppose the Viridus famaglia because they're abusing the citizens of this town, right? Let me join."

Giotto started. "A-are you sure?" He asked in surprise. "The Viridus famaglia is strong…"

"Which is exactly why we need more allies, right, Asari?" G asked, running a hand through his hair. "As much as I hate to admit it, Asari's right, Giotto. We can't plan to fight them without at least a hundred strong men. Even then we'll be outnumbered 10 to 1. Asari's strong… he saved us from the last scuffle."

Asari smiled at G. "Thank you, G-san." He said.

G turned slightly red. "This isn't for you." He snapped. "It's for the sake of helping Giotto to protect the citizens."

"Softie." Giotto teased. This served to make G turn even redder.

"W-what are you talking about?" G spluttered. "I just said that we're protecting the citizens! It's our duty!"

"I mean letting Asari join us." Giotto reply with a sly smile. "You like him and want him to join us, don't you? I'll bet that you're just pretending to dislike him! He's grown on you, hasn't he?"

"Idiot! I just _met_ him!"

"Sure, sure, whatever you say!" Giotto replied sweetly, acting falsely innocent as he gigled. "Hehe~"

Asari smiled as he watched the two bicker, almost seeming to forget that Asari was there. _Is this what the rest of my life will be like?_ He wondered, and grinned. _Well, seems like fun._

Protecting Giotto felt surprisingly good. When he fault, Asari didn't feel like he had been fighting. He had just been defending his friend, not intentionally hurting his opponents.

Slowly, his smile stretched even wider as he watched his… friends (the word felt a little strange, even in his thoughts) turn to him, demanded to know who was right. At this Asari gave a clueless laugh accompanied by a little shrug.

"Ahm…. What was the argument about again?" He wondered out loud, still musing it over when G started to yell at him about paying attention.

" _You're_ the one who's the cause of this fight, you know, Flute Freak! You should pay more attention when people are arguing about _you_ and why _you're_ here! Hey, are you even listening to me!? Oi, oi, pay attention! HEEEEYYYY, Giotto, he's ignoring me! You're friend is really rude! Giotto, you're ignoring me too!? You all suck!"

 _Ah… this is fun._ He thought as G continued to yell at him. _This just might work._

 **A/N:** I'm not abandoning this again, nor deleting it. I'm finishing it, for sure! (Pumps fist.) I say that, but the chapters suck so you probably don't care anyways...


	3. When Lightening Strikes

**A/N** : I altered Lambo's age. He's 7, not 5. **Translation:** fratellone is an affectionate way of saying 'big brother' in italian

 **10** **th** **Generation Time**

Lambo bowed. "Nice to meet you." He said to the millionth woman, who smiled, called him cute, and continued off on her merry way, cheerily greeting another once in a while as she wiped caringly at the fingerprints on a small black pistol.

The eight year old heir to the Bovino famaglia carefully readjusted the tie on his neck, reminding himself that if he took off the offensive tuxedo his mother would be very angry, and shuffled through the crowd.

For a second he closed his eyes as he remembered that the man he was looking for was no longer there. Stupidera had left him all alone once again, and it was all that stupid Vongola heir's fault that Stupidera had left Lambo.

"Hold… it… in…" He mumbled to himself. The mafia were like sharks, waiting patiently for a weak point in him so that they could pounce like hungry predators.

Lambo felt a pang in his chest when the people walked around him, not bothering to look down at the child that struggled to make his way through.

Today was a ball to signify the marriage of Lambo's father to… what number spouse was it this time? Lambo couldn't be bothered to remember. By the end of the week, the horrid woman who ignored him dutifully would be gone, and hopefully his father would find interest in someone who would smile and tolerate Lambo.

He didn't care if they were faking, or actually liked him anymore. Their faces would all blur together sooner or later, until he couldn't even remember the color of their hair, much less the way or truthfulness of their smiles.

He frowned in an attempt to remember even the last one. Hadn't she been blond? Yes… fake, shiny blond hair that came off when Lambo tugged at it.

If he recalled correctly, she had been one of those who hated him. She stared at him in cold disdain, up high in her bright pink high heels.

Yes, she had disgusted Lambo with her cool, plastic exterior, screaming at servants to do her bidding only to be turned out in a day. Yes, she had screamed and wept for mercy as she was put in front of a metal wall and shot.

Had he enjoyed it?

He couldn't have. Lambo hated killing. He remembered the wide, insane eyes as the woman wept and pleaded for any show of mercy.

 _That's useless._ Lambo thought to himself as he shook the memory of the bright red blood splattering on the walls from his mind. The memory disgusted him… how many woman had his father courted and allowed to live?

He couldn't remember.

All he remembered was their cold, icy stares as they gave him fake, plastic smiles…

Except for Mama. But Mama was dead, shut up by father's men when she had discovered secrets and foolishly attempted to blackmail them in order to ensure Lambo's safety.

 _Mama was an idiot. Going against father is the stupidest thing ever… she must have known she would die._

Lambo-sama would be dead too, the child reflected, if not for the fact that his father was in desperate need of an heir and Lambo had promised to be obedient.

Had his mother known that she would die? Had the woman who lovingly sang songs and told him tales of princes died so that her son would be safe? The thought terrified him.

He shook himself out of such thoughts as he politely greeted another terrifying man, inching slowly away with a stiff smile as he took note of the scars running on either side of his lips to his ears, creating the image of a too-wide smile.

"What a cute little kid." The man purred, a dangerous look in his eyes. "Once you join the mafia you'll love it!" He laughed boisterously, the dark look still in his eyes.

Lambo shivered. "Lambo-sama is already a part of the mafia." He responded to the man's back, careful to make sure his voice didn't tremble.

" _No,_ I don't think so." A soft, quiet voice responded.

"I am." Lambo declared angrily as he turned around. "I am Lambo Sciopero Bovino, the heir to the Bovino famaglia! Of course I'm a part of the mafia!"

Then he froze when he saw the face of the man who had spoken. Though the hair had been gelled to hang in his eyes, practically dripping with oil and the eyes were light blue instead of the amber color that he had remembered, the small frame with the slightly too-small tuxedo were still the same.

" _You_." Lambo hissed immediately, stepping back carefully. "Stay away from me, Vongola Decimo."

"Lambo, calm down." He instantly recognized that voice as well. His hair had been combed back into a low ponytail and he wore thick, round glasses that made his eyes look brown instead of green but it was still him.

"Stupidera." Lambo snarled, unable to hold in the anger that managed to leek into his voice.

The teen's face drooped a little. "I guess you're pretty mad at me, eh, Lambo?"

"Stay away from me!" Lambo yelled, though Decimo had already covered Lambo's mouth so it came out muffled and slurred. He shoved the hand away and backed off. "Help!" He screamed.

Stupidera's eyes widened. "Lambo.. no… please don't…"

"Stupidera! VONGOLA DECIMO IS HERE!" He screamed, pointing at the two boys who's eyes were wide in shock. "HE'S SAWADA TSUNAYOSHI!"

There were shouts of shock and the startled guests were quick to draw their guns, eyes narrowed as they pointed the weapons at the boys.

"Now look what you've done, Lambo." Stupidera grumbled with his ever present scowl.

"You deserve it." Lambo declared. "You're Lambo-sama's subordinate, but you betrayed Lambo-sama. The conse- conse—conshuhquence for betrayal is death."

Decimo looked shocked at Lambo's words. "Hayato—Hayato-kun is nobody's subordinate!" He exclaimed. "He's not my subordinate, Bovino! He's my _friend_!"

Lambo faltered for a moment, remembering Stupidera's words when they have first met. _Nice to meet you. Want to be my friend?_ He remembered laughing, ecstatic that somebody had wanted to befriend him… the stupid, obnoxious, spoiled heir of Bovino, the son of a traitor.

 _Lambo-sama likes you! You can be my subordinate!_

A hint of a smile. One of many, thousands of smiles that'd be full.

 _Hell, brat, if you weren't an heir I'd kick your ass!_ He'd done it anyways, but Lambo had continued to laugh and pretend to be stupid because the smarter you acted the smarter you had to be. Then people expected more of you, and when they were disappointed they discarded you like rotten fruit.

"It doesn't matter!" Lambo yelled angrily. "Stupidera left me! And it was all your fault!"

"Lambo!" The silver haired teen looked shocked. "I… I…"

"Give him back to me!" Lambo demanded. "Give back my _fratellone_!" Those words were stupid. Stupidera wouldn't accept them… he'd yell at Lambo that he wasn't his niisan and to stop being an idiot and not call him that. But all that came were wide, regret filled eyes.

"Lambo…"

The brown haired teen held up his hands in surrender, his head bowed. "I'm sorry, Lambo." He said softly. "We'll share him, okay? If you join us, you can share him with us. But if you don't, Gokudera will be ours. Mine and Takeshi's. If you join us, you don't just get Gokudera. You can get two new _fratellone_ … if you'll accept us."

Lambo wanted to cry. "Keep… it… in…" He whispered.

"Hey, Lambo, you promised that you wouldn't keep anything from me." Stupidera teased, his voice soft and contemplative. "Not even your tears."

He felt something wet on his cheeks.

Decimo tilted his head to the side. "Lambo, can you fight? Three of us can only take out about half of them… if you can fight it'll be much easier for the four of us to escape."

Lambo tugged at his horns and grinned as he sent lightening flames through them. "Idiot." He smiled. "I'm the heir to my famaglia. Of course I can fight."

There was a loud laugh. "Welcome to the team, Lambo!" A voice shouted, and there was a flash of metal before two men fell to the ground, not expecting the attack. A black haired, Japanese boy grinned at him.

"Let's reintroduce ourselves." The brown haired boy suggested as he pulled out green tinted contact lenses, rubbed some oil out of his hair and a bright, pure orange flame sparkled to life on his hair.

 _So sparkly! It's so beautiful!_ Lambo thought. _Is it only orange flames that can be so pretty? I want flames that are pretty like that…_

"My name is Tsunayoshi Sawada. Call me Tsuna. Anything's fine. Just don't call me boss like Hayato does, okay?" And he rocketed off, knocking people out and stealing their guns to rapidly fire warning shots at the others.

Stupidera crouched down as he tugged the rubber band away from his hair and pulled the glasses off. "I'm Hayato Gokudera… but I guess to you I'll always be Stupidera, eh, Lambo?"

"Stupidera." Lambo whispered, his voice sounding strangely far away, as though he wanted to say more but his voice couldn't do it.

"I'm Takeshi Yamamoto!" The black hair boy yelled, flashing over to Lambo. He grinned, waved, and flashed away again, only a silver streak left where his sword had been moments before.

Lambo swallowed. "I'm the great Lambo Sciopero Bovino!" He declared, putting on a stupid façade. "But.. you can call me Lambo. Long names are too stupid anyways."

Stupidera gave him a soft smile. "Stick by my side, okay, Lambo?" He asked just as bullets shot in their direction. "Gaaaah! Erm… just watch out for bullets."

Lambo giggled. "Idiot. I'm not stupid, you know." This felt… nice. He wondered why.

0o0o0o0o0o0

 **1** **st** **Generation Vongola**

 _Ding, dong!_

Lampo groaned and turned in bed, smothering his face in his pillow. It was too early for anything, let alone visitors!

"What's father thinking, inviting guests so early in the morning?" He grumbled in wonder to himself as he shoved the blankets of and yelled at his maid to fix up the bed. "I don't remember any appointments…"

Oh. It must have been _him_ again.

Lampo sighed, running a hand through his hair as he bit back a wide yawn. "Ore-sama doesn't like being woken up in the morning by a full of himself by an annoying poor blond person." He complained loudly as he changed into formal attire, scowling slightly when a maid adjusted his tie with a small bow.

The woman quickly scampered off with a murmur of "here you go, young Master".

Lampo narrowed his eyes at that. He hated it when people reacted that way… it just didn't feel right. It felt as though something were expected of him… though, he thought bitterly, he had been long since deemed a lost cause by his father and mother.

"LAMPO!" A loud yell came through the mansion. "GET DOWN HERE!"

"Hai, hai." He grumbled as he slid down the banister (careful not to let anybody see him) and strutted into the living room. "It's the annoying blond again." He noted as he tilted his head, scowling as the blond and his two companions marched in, the newest recruit muttering a small apology under his breath.

Bah. The man shouldn't have bothered. They were trespassing anyways.

Lampo's father turned to him, slightly red faced. "Lampo, is it true that you've been visiting the citizens in town and _conversing_ with them lately?" He asked.

Lampo's mind raced in an attempt to find out how to not get into too much trouble. "Mm." He finally said, settling for a non-comittical answer.

His father's eyes narrowed. " _Lampo_?" He hissed angrily.

Lampo's eyes flickered to the floor guiltily. "Nope." He replied with a shrug and met his father's eyes, schooling his features into complete confusion. "Why would you ask that?"

His father's expression lit into one of triumph as Giotto and his companion's shot him an uneasy, then slightly angry look from the stupid redhead. "I could very well arrest you three for making false accusations." He said as he turned to the others with a cocky grin.

Lampo knew that face very well. He saw it in the mirror every day. Once his mask, now who he truly had become. One of the noble monsters.

"Ore-sama's going for a walk." He called out to his father, who just waved him off impatiently. _And I'll visit some friends too._

0o0o0o0o0o0

"Haha, how'd you get away from the old geezer this time?" Marco asked as the street boys gathered around Lampo.

"Just told him I'm going out for a walk." Lampo snorted. "He's too stupid to ever suspect anything. Didn't so much as ask a single question, just waved me off. Oh yeah, that irritating blond was there too, so he was pretty distracted."

"Giotto's not annoying!" 'Dirty' Rich exclaimed. "He's an awesome hero who's defending our rights! He's super cool!"

"Sure he is." Lampo replied absentmindedly as he bought a bag of apples and tossed it to the kids. "He disturbs my sleep though, and he spilled to the old man about me visiting you guys. Stupid blond can't keep out of other people's business." He grumbled under his breath.

"You don't seem to like Giotto-san very much." Smooth Talker (they had long forgotten his real name) observed wryly, a light smirk on his lips.

"No way I ever would either." Lampo replied icily. "That stupid guy keeps getting me in trouble with my old man. Then I get locked up and yelled at. Hmph."

He paused to buy some candy, one which he popped into his mouth and the rest he flicked towards the foreheads of the street boys, who despite loud protesting, quickly scrambled to grab the rare treat.

"Thanks." Marco said, cheeks stuffed with candy which he had won by punching the lights out of four other kids.

"You should share." Lampo scolded mildly, but it was a hollow threat and absent mindedly said.

Rich snorted. "Share. Hah, you're funny, Lampo. If we shared we'd all be dead."

"Ore-sama shares, doesn't he?" Lampo replied, raising an eyebrow as he cracked open both eyes to give Rich a patronizing look. "And look where that gets you. More food."

"You're different." Rich replied stubbornly, eyes dark in annoyance. "You're rich. You can just do as you fancy and if you forget about us street kids then who will care? You get to live your high and mighty life… you don't have to fight for a lick of food and you get everything handed to you on a silver platter."

Lampo nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right." He agreed amicably.

"Then why don't you leave us alone?" Smooth Talker asked curiously as he sidled up to Lampo, shooting the green haired teenager a curious look. "Why do you go out of your way to talk to us street scum?"

Lampo paused mid stride, and grinned at the gang. "Because one day I may end up like you brats and when I do get tossed into the street I don't want you guys to be pissed at me and beat me up."

"Trouble with your dad?" Marco asked with a snort. "Your troubles are hardly troubles at all."

"Mm." Lampo's eyes dulled slightly. "I've got no troubles at all."

The kids tossed him a curious look, but he just grinned and waved. "I've got to go now or he'll get mad at me." Lampo said. "See ya!"

He had barely run ten paces when he bumped into Giotto and his crew, however, due to some stroke of luck, it wasn't literal.

Giotto blinked at him for a moment, then smiled as though he were truly happy to see him. The teenager mentally snorted. Hah. As if. "Lampo! It's nice to see you!" He paused and tilted his head to the side. "How come you told your dad that you didn't talk to the citizens? Everyone considers you a…"

"I don't care what they consider me." Lampo interrupted with a glare. "Thanks to you, dad's going to be watching my every move now. Thanks a lot for nothing."

Giotto blinked at him for a moment, then his eyes morphed into a form of hurt confusion that made Lampo feel slightly guilty. Why the heck would a grown twenty year old have puppy dog eyes? That were _effective_!?

"Don't talk that way to Giotto, bastard!" G yelled, leaping in front of the blond with an arrow in hand.

"I can talk to him any way I want." Lampo retorted, eyes dark. "Get out of my way, commoner."

The third, the dark haired foreigner who still spoke fluent Italian held up his hands in a pacifying gesture. "We're sorry, Lampo." He apologized quietly, an uneasy smile flickering on his face. "We'll leave you alone now, okay?"

"Yes, that would be a welcome change." Lampo replied angrily, and stormed off even as Giotto called out his name pleadingly behind him. He paused, turned and allowed his bright green flames to envelop him, feeling slight satisfaction when the crew's eyes widened in surprise.

"Leave. Me. _Alone_." He growled before his flames dispersed and he stormed off, this time, silence from the vigilante group.

He should've been happy about that, but if he really wanted them to leave him alone then why did he suddenly feel so bad?

Lampo had never wanted to be left alone. He had always wanted people who wouldn't look at him with those cold, manipulative smiles that always seemed to come onto the faces of his father's contacts.

So why was he asking these people to leave him alone when he didn't want it?

He blew out air between his lips and kicked a rock in frustration. _I've become one now, haven't I?_ He thought bitterly. He had tried so hard not to become one, but he had ended up as one anyways.

Lampo had become his father's puppet, his actions controlled by invisible strings.

 _I'm such an idiot._

 **Reply to FluffyCanaries(Guest):** Don't apologize for long reviews, I love them, and I really loved yours. There's no such thing as a review that's too long or short for me. Yes, you're not mistaken, you probably did read this before. I deleted it though, which I promise to never do again. In reply to your question, the Vongola really is dark and evil and such in this world, but Tsuna's misunderstanding is that the Vongola can't be saved. As for whether or not he'll realize that the Vongola can be saved... well, you'll have to read to find out, I suppose. Sorry for the long reply, but I loved your review a lot.


	4. When The Sun Begins to Shine

**Future – 10** **th** **Generation Time Period**

Tsuna leaned back, tipping his hand forwards to cover his face as a frown grew onto his features. "I don't like this." He said uneasily before yelping and crashing onto the ground.

Takeshi smiled for a moment in amusement, then his eyebrows drew together in confusion. "What do you mean you don't like this? We're not in trouble or anything at the moment, right?"

Hayato sighed. "What he means, Sword Freak, is that his Hyper Intuition is sending him some bad signals. Boss' hyper intuition has never been wrong and…" Hayato gulped. "We might be in some serious trouble."

Lambo hung his head. "I'm scared, Tsuna-nii. What did you mean by that? What trouble, Stupidera? …Sushi-niisan? What's wrong?"

Tsuna gave the seven year old a weary smile. "We're a group that opposes the mafia, Lambo." He said quietly, and sat up, lighting a flame onto his finger and staring at it with a frown. "If we're ever ambushed, you go through the secret passages and straight to the reserve room, okay, Lambo?"

"No! I won't abandon you! I'll stay and help protect you! I won't—"

Hayato cut him off with a low growl. "Just do it, stupid cow." He snarled. "We can't go worrying about you in the middle of a fight! All that you'll do is inconvenience us, okay?"

Takeshi gave Lambo a small smile. "Hey, Lambo, if you get in trouble, just flash your flames, alright? Flash once if you're in trouble, twice if it's a trap, and three times if you're lost, 'kay?"

Lambo sniffled slightly. "O-okay. But I won't need to do it." He put on a determined expression. "I'll train to get stronger! Lots stronger! I'll be even stronger than Tsuna-nii! And I'll be able to fight with you and you won't have to worry and Lambo-sama won't be a burden, I promise! Lambo-sama's really brave! Hold… it… in…"

Hayato hit Lambo on the head. "Don't you _dare_ hold it in, stupid cow." He growled.

Tears started trickling down Lambo's face and turned into a full-blown bawl as he ran up to Hayato and tightly hugged his leg. "Don't leave me alone again, Stupidera." He mumbled.

Hayato leaned down. "Don't worry, stupid cow." He replied quietly. "I'll never leave you beh—"

Tsuna smiled at the touching scene, then started in fear when they didn't get to finish it due to a loud yell. "Is this an EXTREMELY abandoned house!? THAT'S SO EXTREME AND AWESOME!"

There was a giggling sound, and a voice that sounded like a girl's saying "Calm down, niichan. We should get going… mom and dad will be looking for us because we're just visiting Italy for summer vacation. We might get lost since Japan's across the world, right?"

"That's a great idea, Kyoko, but I want to explore this awesome old place!" The other voice replied seriously.

There was a small sound like a sigh, then a sound of consent from the girl. "Alright, oniisan. But be careful, okay?"

"Oh course, Kyoko!" The other voice replied. Tsuna mentally thought that the speaker would have sounded slightly scandalized, had it not been for the fact that he yelled out the words. "You know that I always am."

There was a small sound as though in disbelief and the 'oniisan' boy in question had a habit of being extremely _un_ careful, but the girl consented. "Alright. I'll do some exploring too, I suppose."

There was a yell of; "Extr-EEEEMMMMEEEEE!" and a sound like something cutting through air, and Tsuna was instantly suspicious when he sensed sun flames.

Hayato and Takeshi immediately tensed along with Tsuna. "An enemy?" Hayato mouthed, eyes narrowed as he drew out some dynamite and lit it with his dying will flames.

Tsuna pursed his lips and listened in on the conversation. "No…" He mouthed back, albeit slightly hesitantly. "I don't think so. But be on guard, at least for a while." After all, it was better safe than sorry. Tsuna had learned that long ago, when Enrico had ambushed Tsuna after Tsuna had betrayed the Vongola.

Takeshi silently put a hand on the hilt of his sword, patiently waiting for Tsuna to give him the signal to either stand down, attack, or flee.

Lambo was silent for a moment. "If he discovers this room, then what will you do?" He asked quietly, and started to cry. "I didn't—I'm not a fast runner… if he catches me then…" He rubbed at his eyes and quickly looked away. "Never mind." The child said quickly. "It doesn't matter."

Tsuna smiled. "That's right." He agreed. "It doesn't matter."

Lambo felt his heart stretch at that. _I suppose that they don't really know me._ He thought to himself. _They'll abandon me, just like everyone else did…_

"I'll just have to carry you and that's it, right?" Tsuna continued, and smiled when Lambo's eyes turned wide in surprise. "What did you think, silly? Did you think that we were going to abandon you?"

"I… I…" Lambo couldn't help it. He began to cry.

It was rather unfortunate that in that moment, the door opened and in peered the curious face of a boy who was a total stranger.

0o0o0o0o0

Lambo jumped in shock and immediately pulled grenades out of his hair, heart hammering in his chest as he swallowed. _Will we have to fight? Did he get hired as an assassin to track down Tsuna-nii? No! I don't want this to happen… I don't want to die…_

Ah, no, wait, he was overreacting. Tsuna-nii, Stupidera and that smiling swordsman were strong, right? They must have been, to practically challenge the entire underworld. They could dispatch of him with ease…

Wait, that was saying that he _was_ actually connected to the mafia…

For a moment, the white haired boy stared at them, blinking, and they blinked back, hardly daring to breath.

Then, a wide grin stretched out onto the lips of the other boy. "Nice to meetcha!" He said cheerily as he held out a bandaged hand.

Tsuna, shaking slightly, moved forwards and grasped it uneasily, his wide eyes filled with worry and confusion. "H-hi." He murmured. "Not to seem rude or anything but—what are you doing here?" His eyes flickered down to the bandages on the strangers hands with a slight frown, as though trying to decide on something.

The boy laughed. "My sister and I got chased by some extremely bad people and we just ran into the nearest looking building!" He confessed amicably.

"I see." Tsuna gave the boy a light smile. "And you are—?"

"Oh, I didn't tell you?" The boy asked with a slightly wide eyed look that Lambo found difficult to interpret. "I'm so rude! Ahahahaha, I'm Sasagawa Ryohei, to the EXTREME! It's an Extreme pleasure to meet you!"

Tsuna gave a small, hesitant nod. "I see." Lambo scowled a little at that. Seriously, 'I see'? Was that all that Tsuna-nii could say? Grownups could be pretty unimaginative, some of the time. "Well, why don't you just go and call your sister to come here and we'll help to beat up the bad guys, okay?"

Ryohei's face lit up. "Really?" He asked happily. "Thanks! I was going to fight them but my sister made me promise not to fight and I didn't want to have to do it in front of her! You guys are really EXTREME!"

Tsuna smiled fully. "No problem." He said, sounding happy, his voice almost giddy in relief.

Stupidera seemed to know why Tsuna-nii was sounding like this, so Lambo decided to trust him and the smiling swordsman, and fully relaxed in the stranger's presence.

"How do you fight?" Takeshi asked with a light smile, his eyes sharpening in wait for the response.

He was given a 'well, duh' type of look (Lambo-sama had to give it to Ahodera all the time), and held up his bandaged fists. "I'm a boxer!" He declared loudly.

Takeshi smiled and his tight grip on his blade lightened slightly. "That's pretty cool." He laughed.

And then that was when a loud shriek pierced the air.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

It was pure instinct that made Ryohei's body move forwards as he leaped towards the sound of his sisters scream.

The boys that he had just met exchanged glances, as though uneasy about something, then hurried to follow him, the youngest hopping on top of the silver haired boy's head.

Ryohei was about to say something about cigarettes being bad and how smoking was definitely not extreme, but this wasn't the time and he had to save Kyoko.

It was the first time that he had seen Tsuna in action, and it had gained his respect.

In about 0.5 seconds flat Tsuna knocked the goons unconscious and snarled under his breath, _Vongola_. The hatred compressed into that single, foreign word had made Ryohei flinch.

And in that moment, Ryohei pledged himself to the boy who had been a stranger a second before, and he still knew absolutely nothing of.

He had pledged to leave Japan behind, stay in Italy, and abandon all that he had once known for a world of bloody, mindless carnage that would never end, and follow the dream of someone who he barely knew. It was a choice that would dictate the rest of his life.

And nothing had ever felt so right than that one, single moment.

 **Past – 1** **st** **Generation Period**

 _You went too far… you went too far…_

 _Shut up!_

Knuckle wrapped his hands around his head in a futile attempt to block out the dark memories that were already starting to bleed into his mind.

 _Stop it! Go away! Stop remembering!_

Why? It had been such a long time ago… why did he have to dream about it _now_ , of all times?

Knuckle surveyed his surroundings, letting a small frown come to his lips when he realized that he was no longer in the church, the place that he had finally begun to call home.

But where was he?

"Ah, you're awake."

 _Who is that?_

Knuckle raised his head, eyes wide in curiosity, and blinked when he saw the foreign man… Asari, was it?... that had come to town recently. "Where am I?" He asked, swallowing the tight lump in his throat.

Asari gave him a light, carefree smile as he handed Knuckle a glass of water. "We're in Giotto's mansion at the moment. Welcome, Knuckle-san. I suppose you know Giotto?"

"Of course I do!" Knuckle snorted. "I'd be a fool if I didn't know that name. The leader of a vigilante group and goes around stirring trouble… but I believe to the limit that if he begs for forgiveness for his sins then God will forgive him!"

Asari laughed. "Giotto-kun hasn't done anything wrong, Knuckle-san. He just wants to help out the citizens of the town! As for stirring up trouble… he doesn't do it on purpose, you know."

The door swung open slightly and a blond head poked in, followed by a hesitant face, and soon an entire body.

The man standing before Knuckle cleared his throat, as though he were slightly hesitant of something, and then awkwardly raised a hand in greeting. "Erm… Ciao. We were a little worried, there, since you got kind of beat up by those gangsters…"

"They weren't gangsters." Knuckle interrupted darkly, hating himself as he glared at his bandaged hands, tightly clenching the bed sheets.

Ah, yes. _That_ was why he had dreamt of that faded, long hoped to be forgotten past. It had never faded. It was always there but he had run from it…

 _What a coward am I._ Knuckle thought bitterly. _I thought that I could run away from the boxing ring but it just kept chasing me… and I got those children involved…_

"Are the children alright?" Knuckle asked. If the children had gotten hurt because of those old grudges… he could never forgive himself. No, he still wouldn't forgive himself, no matter what.

"They're fine." The blond man replied, albeit hesitantly. "I'm Giotto, by the way. And…" He looked down, then turned his head sideways, as though attempting to avoid meeting Knuckle's eyes. "They're still a bit bruised up, so we'll need you to… I mean, I hope that it's not asking too much but I heard that you were a doctor as well as a priest and…" He looked vaguely embarrassed, his cheeks turning bright red. "Uh, can you… erm… help out, maybe?"

"I see." Knuckle sighed. "Of course I'll see to them. They're precious, to the limit! Children are priceless!"

Giotto gave him a relieved smile, as though he had feared that Knuckle would deny the children healing. Hah, as though he would do such an evil, ungodly thing.

"Great. They're in the room right next to us… they've been begging to see you, crying that you were hurt and they wanted to be able to fight with you next time. Calling you a hero and not even caring that they were hurt themselves… they're really loyal, Knuckle."

Knuckle blew out a breath between his lips. "Yes, unfortunately." He sighed. "Those children are my weakness…"

"Using hostages is a cowardly move." Asari commented angrily. "I'm glad that Giotto beat those five up."

Knuckle blinked, and turned to Giotto in amazement, shock written all over his features. "You… you beat all five of them up?" He asked, his voice slightly hoarse from surprise.

"Of course!" Giotto declared, looking angry. "They were beating you up!"

"But… but…" Knuckle spluttered. "They're the five strongest boxers in the Underground Ring!"

"Well, Asari and G helped." Giotto admitted, sounding somewhat like a proud father. "And you gave them all a good beating too!"

"But not good enough." Knuckle mumbled, and held up his hands. Those bloody, cursed hands, which he had sworn he'd never use to spill blood again…

Knuckle hung his head in shame, hating how helpless he was to stop himself from immediately hitting those bastards that had hurt the children who constantly smiled innocently at him, not judging him... but they would if they knew…

 _And yet, they would still forgive me even if they did know, saying that I had turned good and was forgiven by God._

"You want to be stronger, right?" Giotto asked suddenly, turning to Knuckle with a bright smile.

Knuckle blinked. "Y-yes." He agreed with a dip of his head.

"Then join me." Giotto held out his hand. "Join my group. You can be stronger and protect the people that you care about, and we'll do it with you! You won't be alone anymore!"

Knuckle stared at the hand, wanting so badly to reach out and grab it. And for a moment, his hand lifted in the air, almost as though possessed with a will of it's own, and reached forwards.

 _No_.

The thought scalded him, and he quickly withdrew his hand as though electrocuted. "I—I can't." He muttered. "These hands can't… they won't…"

"The fighting that they'll do won't be hurting others." Giotto interrupted. "It's making sure people are safe. It's not like I'm asking you to kill or anything."

"I've already done that."

Giotto looked a little surprised, but a determined, almost pouty expression made it's way to his features. "I don't care." He said firmly. "We'll be friends, okay?"

And, though it was against his will, Knuckle reached out and grabbed the hand.

 **A/N:** Yeah. I know. It's bad. Throw rocks at this picture of me while I quietly make my escape from tomato throwing opposite-of-fans, alright? Next is the clouds, then the mists, and then we'll have a real plot! Probably. Maybe. Not really…


	5. As A Cloud Drifts Past

**NOTE ON STORY:** I won't go into much detail with Kyoya. He has already joined Tsuna by the time the fanfiction takes place in, and was a childhood friend since Tsuna had a lot of assassins sent after him, as he was the direct heir of Vongola in this fanfiction. Eventually Tsuna saved Kyoya's life at one point and earned his loyalty. Kyoya kept Tsuna updated on the outside world every once in a while, and stays in contact from Namimori.

 **Future – 10** **th** **Generation Timeline**

 _Beep. The one who you are currently trying to contact is not available. Please leave a message after—_

 _Beep._

Kyouya clicked _End Call_ and turned his cell phone shut will an angry jab of his finger. His cheeks reddened as his eyes darkened, fuming at that stupid carnivore…

Damn that stupid carnivore, telling him in that herbivorous manner to keep in touch with him and then not being available.

 _He must have changed his phone number again._

Kyouya thought to himself, before giving the amateur of a so-called 'assassin' a tonfa to the skull and angrily punching in the dynamite herbivore's cell phone number.

"Who are you, and what the hell do you want?" Hayato's familiar voice growled through the speakers.

"Shut up, herbivore." Kyouya growled back. "I want to talk to the herbivorous carnivore."

"Tch. Don't talk about Tsuna-sama that way, you bastard." Hayato threatened angrily, before there was as shifting sound, and Tsuna's voice came through with a small squeak.

"Omigosh, Kyouya! I'm sosososo sorry, I got hacked into again by Spanner and then I had to change my number and password, then mail the cell phone to Africa with instructions to toss it in the trash because it turned defective and then bought a cheap cell phone online and—"

"Do me a favor and shut up, babbling carnivore."

There was a small sigh at the other end before the carnivore turned serious. "Well, Kyouya? What happened?"

"They found out about my connection to you and I'm stuck dealing with weaklings. It won't be that much time before Namimori becomes full of the stupid crowding herbivores, so I'm heading over to Italy."

There was a loud crashing sound, as though the phone had been dropped, then a loud yell as though it had been dropped on someone's foot, and then Tsuna yelling "What!? Seriously!? So soon!?" into the phone.

 _My ears are ringing._ Kyouya mentally grumbled to himself, before quietly informing the carnivore that yes, he was going to Italy, yes, of course he was going back to Italy, and no, Tsuna didn't need to worry and he would simply make use of his father's underground contacts to smuggle himself across the country by heading to China to throw off any skilled pursuers.

"But—I—" Tsuna paused, and asked, "How are the others doing, by the way? Is Haru still teaching at the dojo? How's mom?"

"Yes, they're fine." Kyouya sighed. "The Sasagawa's went to Italy, by the way, and the older brother stayed there for some reason. Would you like me to look into—" His question was cut off by another loud yelp and crashing sound.

 _Why me?_ Kyouya paused to wonder to himself, before sighing and asking Tsuna why he had reacted that way _this_ time.

"R-Ryohei?" The carnivore's voice asked weakly through the phone. "I-is his name Sasagawa Ryohei? White haired, bandage across the nose, sun flames, boxer, constantly in Deathperation mode type of personality?"

Kyouya paused to flip through the files, before giving a decisive nod. "Yes, that sounds about right." He agreed, and was about to ask how Tsuna knew before the truth dawned on him. "For effecting Namimori even when you're halfway across the world, one day I'll bite you to death."

He growled angrily into the phone. That was, if he could. The carnivore was strong, Kyouya had to admit. After all, he had even been able to defeat Kyouya five years ago, when he was only eleven years old.

Kyouya smiled in anticipation. _I can't wait to see how much he has grown._ Rebelling against the Vongola, which meant basically rebelling against the entire mafia, and therefore the entire Underground world…

Yes, the carnivore had gotten guts, but he was still that worried little fool who cared too much about others for his own good.

Why did Kyouya feel so proud of him?

That caring, herbivorous feeling wasn't supposed to be a good thing and yet…

No, Kyouya couldn't describe it. Was this what concern felt like, hoping that others stayed safe and grew stronger?

He was getting weak, but the carnivore's words came back, haunting him.

 _True strength? Hm… I guess that being strong is… well,_ A bright, stupid smile that held no knowledge of the horrors of the dark underground world. _Protecting others, isn't it? When you have something inside of you that wants desperately to help someone else and make sure they're not hurt…_

 _When you don't care if you're hurt, as long as they're not… well, that's true strength, isn't it? That's what makes me strong._

It made sense, yet it didn't. Because how could caring make you strong? He didn't understand and yet… at the same time, somehow, he did.

 _I'm such a fool._

Being caught in the carnivore's trap… but then, he supposed, it must have been fate that drove him to this seemingly weak conclusion, that told him caring was the better option, for the other carnivore was too honest to trick him or manipulate him like this.

Kyouya sighed, and reluctantly typed in his father's phone number, his hand raising the phone to his ears as it rung loudly.

He would be patient, and wait for the bloodlust to return. But now… this peaceful feeling… it was almost… nice.

" _Hello_?" A suspicious voice asked.

Kyouya took a deep breath. He hated asking his family for favors. Showing any signs of weakness as a Hibari to anyone… _especially_ another Hibari, was simply asking for a knife to the back.

Weakness, a lack of bloodlust among the Hibari's, was not tolerated.

"Father?" He asked, gritting his teeth as he forced the words through his mouth.

 _This isn't for my sake._ He reminded himself as he brought forth the memory of the warm, accepting smile.

 _If you join me, I'll let you roam free and do what you want, as long as you stop hurting yourself…_

It was for his sake. And for Tsuna, he'd do almost anything.

"Father, it's me, Kyouya. Can I ask you a favor?"

 **Past – 1** **st** **Generation Timeline**

Alaude cocked the gun at the target, narrowing his eyes as he brushed a strand of hair from his eyepiece.

Vongola Giotto.

Alaude had been warned that killing the man would be difficult, but he had heard those words again and again, and the targets had always been easy, like shooting a child.

Not that he would do such a despicable thing, of course, unless it was necessary and the child was older than 7, in which case he would accept the job, as money was money no matter the age, and corrupt was corrupt, no matter what the age or cuteness of the face.

He hated using guns, the loud, cowardly weapons, but he used them anyways. He was starting to turn into a coward, especially after that last incident.

Alaude unconsciously gripped the gun tighter. He had gotten innocents involved last time… how could he do such a despicable thing? They had been willing to take a total stranger in and were so hospital… and because of their kindness, their only reward was the expensive funeral that Alaude had guiltily paid for.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by a cold voice in his ear. "And what is the famed assassin Alaude doing in a quaint little town like this?" The redhead who he had seen accompanying Giotto asked sweetly in his ear. "Such a mystery…" The man drawled.

"Yes, I suppose that you are a bit too dimwitted to understand grown up things." Alaude replied icily as he pulled out a pair of handcuffs, his eyes unwittingly drawn towards the red tattoo on the man's right cheek. Why did it look so familiar...? Ah, he would think of that later.

The redhead's eyes flashed. "And your egotistical brain cannot understand what sarcasm is, can it, dear assassin?" He asked angrily, before the dagger he held in his hands (how could Alaude not have noticed it until now? He was such a fool.) burst into red flames and he attacked Alaude.

The assassin flinched back before multiplying his handcuffs and sending then flying at the man, ducking as a swipe zoomed in to his neck. "What's your name?" He asked coolly. "I'd like to know before you become a corpse."

"Hah, as though I would." The redhead laughed. "Though I suppose I'll grant you your wish, as you are soon to be a dead man. My name is G."

Alaude pulled out a small pistol and fired a warning shot before throwing up a flash bomb and flying in to attack, aiming at the small flash of red flame that danced around in the white light.

Alaude aimed quickly at G, but he couldn't concentrate as the image of the tattoo came to his mind once again. _Damn it… I want to know… I can't remember…_

For some strange reason, the image of chains found it's way into his mind.

 _Chains…? Why chains? Why not handcuffs?_ His weapons were handcuffs, so surely if he had fought someone with those tattoos before he would remember handcuffs or some other weapon…

And suddenly the realization struck, swift and cold. It was eerily similar to the markings of a slave from the Darkian mafia famaglia… no, it was impossible. Darkian slaves were killed the second they even seemed as though they were plotting rebellion, and besides, the slave sign was tattooed on the back of the slave, not the face. Unless…

No, it was a different tattoo anyways. Alaude slapped himself on the face to break himself out of it, but he was too late as a dagger found itself into his stomach.

His hand pulled it out quickly and pressed against the wound, eyes darkening. He would survive, luckily. Alaude frowned at G. "Good fight." He muttered, not sure if he truly meant it or not.

"Tch." G snarled. "What the hell was that? You were distracted the entire time! Why!? I'm not fighting you again unless you tell me!"

"Tattoo…" Alaude mumbled. "Thought it looked familiar. Stupid of me to be reminded of that famaglia…"

G's eyes darkened at the word famaglia. "Where did you think that you saw it before?" He hissed, eyes almost… fearful? Could it be? Impossible…

Alaude looked away, something he knew to be a mistake, but he couldn't help it. "Darkian slave tattoo." He muttered.

G's face turned into a storm of emotions, before settling on murderous anger. "Shut up." He snarled before stomping off, hands jammed into his pockets.

A few seconds later, Alaude's target appeared, the redhead and a Japanese looking foreigner appearing by his side.

"Ah! So this is the famed Alaude, eh?" Giotto asked in surprise, and leaned down to peer curiously at Alaude. "B-but you're _my_ age!"

"So?" Alaude asked, eyes narrowing. "If you're going to finish me off, be quick about it. Seeing your innocent face makes me want to barf."

Giotto frowned, looking hurt at Alaude's comment. "But—but you're injured!" He protested. "And besides, I would never kill somebody or whatever mean thing you're going to expect me to do! I'll help you out and you'll go on your way, alright?"

Damn it all. Damn that bright, cheerful smile that reminded him so much of _her…_

"The world's not that simple, you idiot." Alaude muttered, before the world began to distort and turn fuzzy. _No… not now…_ And everything went black.

0o0o0o0o0

Alaude woke to soft, sweet flute music, and the sound of angry shouting. His first thought was _don't close your eyes. You're in enemy territory._ His next thought was _where the hell am I?_

"No, don't do it like that, you idiot! What if he wakes up?"

"Ahahaha… sorry, G-kun, but I don't know how to—urk, he's awake! Quick, get the medicine!"

"Don't boss me around, flute freak! I'm not brainless, believe it or not!"

"Hey, guys, how about we just calm down and… OMIGOSH, he's awake! What am I going to do? Who was he after… wait a minute, he was after me, wasn't he!? Am I going to die!? I'm too young to dieeeee….. I don't want to dieeee…. Waaaaaahhhhh!"

"…What the hell is wrong with you people?" Alaude demanded.

He wasn't sure if it was willingly or unwillingly, but somewhere along the line Alaude had become one of those crazy people. And, despite himself, he kind of liked it. Being in their group was interesting, to say in the least.

 **A/N:** Please don't kill me! I know, bad chapter, barely anything explained. Yeah, I mean, heck, Hibari was basically a phone call with Tsuna. I know, lame.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** I'm really dense. I've just realized how many people I've had pass out. Anyone know how much? I'm having people pass out practically every other chapter… siiiigh. Oh well. Hope you enjoy Chrome!

 **Future – 10** **th** **Generation Timeline**

Chrome knew that it was foolish to hope. Everyone had told her that when she was in the hospital but… she let out a small squeak of pain as she tripped and lay, sprawled on the ground,

She had been chased by the mafia for days now, and she was too exhausted to do anything. She had become so weak… no, she had always been weak, always protected by Mukuro-sama. _I want to get stronger… be able to protect…_

But it was too late for that now. Because she'd soon be dead, courtesy of the men who were after her.

"No…" She muttered, fighting hard to escape the fatigue that had been constantly plaguing her for the past month or so. "I have to find them… for Mukuro-sama… have to…" She wrapped her weak fingers around her trident. She had to find Ken and Chikusa before the mafia caught… up… to… her…

The world in front of her blurred, just as the yelling voices screaming for her to stop running stopped, and she head a triumphant yell of, "I found her!"

 _It's over…_ She managed to think weakly as she felt the cold barrel of a gun press against her back. _I'm done for… I'm sorry… Mukuro… -sama…_

Chrome was just about to give up when there was a loud screaming sound and the gun slammed against her back, as though dropped.

"Oh, kami, she's in a really bad condition…" She heard a voice whisper fearfully. "What do I do now? Oi, are you okay? Hey, girl? Hey, Ryohei, Gokudera! Get Tsuna and Lambo! I found a girl her…"

"Is she the one that they were chasing?" Chrome heard a hushed voice ask, which was quickly followed by a sigh of relief. "Good, so we haven't been found yet. That was scary for a moment. Come on, let's bring her in. Hayato-kun, can you make sure those men are sent somewhere far away?"

"Sure, boss. Should I get anything for the girl?"

"Y-yeah. How about some bandages and disinfectant?" The words started to seem to crackle, as though they were speaking through a bad connection on a radio. She barely heard the words, "Oh, kami, stay with us…" before everything turned black.

0o0o0o0o0

Tsuna bit his lip, turning to look at the strange girl every so often, the quickly looking away. _Please be alright…_ His hands fisted, and he tried to shove away the worry that was beginning to gnaw at him, only to find the feelings of concern swell.

"It's going to be alright, Tsuna." Takeshi laughed and placed a hand on Tsuna's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, 'kay? Ryohei's already helped to heal her up and we've gotten her injuries taken care of. She'll be fine, okay?"

"But…"

"No buts." Hayato cut in sternly. "You're always worrying about others, Tsuna-sama, and you need to stop. Just worry about yourself for now, okay?"

"But—!" Tsuna started to protest but was cut off as Lambo gave him a tight hug.

"No more worrying, okay, Tsuna-nii?" Lambo asked gently as he held Tsuna's hand in his own and blinked up at him with wide, worried green eyes. "Tsuna-nii just needs to stop worrying about others and worry about himself for a while, I think." The child gave him a warm, soft smile. "You always do everything for others. Trust us, okay, Tsuna-nii?"

 _Trust us…_

Had he been doubting them this entire time? Had he underestimated them and shoved them away as he did everything by himself?

 _Trust us, okay, Tsuna-nii?_

How could that voice suddenly make him feel as though he had somehow betrayed them by not allowing them to do these things that he kept forcing himself to do?

 _I'm such an idiot._ He realized.

With a sigh, Tsuna gave Lambo a light smile and patted the seven year old on the head gently. "Alright, Lambo." He agreed as he allowed his sight to blur slightly. He crossed a hand over his face and gave his friends all a sleepy smile before sinking to his knees and promptly falling asleep on the ground.

Lambo smiled as he rushed to get a pillow. "Lambo-sama's just looking after his nii-san." He replied quietly as Takeshi brought over a pillow. "After all, if nii-san keeps worrying about other people he won't have time to get candies for Lambo-sama after all!"

Lambo laughed weakly before curling up beside Tsuna and falling asleep as well. After all, when he was with his nii-san, he was safe.

…right?

0o0o0o0o0

Chrome awoke to the busy chatter of strangers.

A pair of fierce grey eyes met hers, before they disappeared and she caught the face of a white haired boy smiling.

Panic instantly rose inside of her. Had she been caught? She had passed out… what would happen to her now? Chrome closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable torture that was sure to come as they tried to find out her connection to Mukuro-sama.

 _I'm so stupid… how could I? Idiot, idiot, idiot…_

"She's extremely awake!" A loud voice shouted before the grinning face popped back into view. "Don't worry, you're safe now. We're friends, okay?"

 _Friends?_ Chrome wondered wearily. Like Ken and Chikusa? Surely not… these people were strangers. They must have just been pretending that they weren't going to hurt her to catch her off guard… _Safe?_ Chrome laughed bitterly at the thought. Nowhere was safe… not for her… nowhere could possibly be safe…

A loud, excited shout of "Really!? That's awesome!" reached her ears before a loud crashing sound echoed into the room, and then a loud shriek and the thump of a body hitting wood reached her ears.

A worried "Are you okay?" came from a rough, yet concerned voice, followed by a soft, kind "I'm alright…"

Rough and yet concerned at the same time… Chrome felt tears well up in her eyes as she thought of Ken, chained up in Vindice, eyes shut in pain as Chikusa's screams came… No! She couldn't think of things like that! One day she'd help to free them…

 _As though the Vindice could be opposed…_

She would do it. She had to… despite what they said, Chrome held them dear in her heart. They were friends… or at least, Chrome was pretty sure that they were…

"Omigosh, you're awake!" A voice yelled happily, before a brunette raced in and slammed into the wall opposite to the door. There was a yell of pain before the man peeled himself at the wall and turned to face Chrome with a sheepish smile.

Chrome gasped, eyes widening in shock as she realized who this man was. "You're— you're—" She whispered, shrinking back fearfully until she was pressed up against the wall, her heart hammering so loudly that she could practically hear the loud beat thumping in her ears.

No, she hadn't been caught by the mafia. She wouldn't be sent to Vindice.

But this was much, much worse. Chrome was dead. She may as well have sacrificed her life…

In front of her stood one who was even more infamous and feared than Mukuro-sama.

 _Tsunayoshi Sawada._

The boy blinked at her in surprise, before a slightly sad, crestfallen expression crossed his features. "Yes, I'm Tsunayoshi Sawada, once heir to Vongola, now the fated destroyer of the most bloody famaglia in all mafia history. And you're Chrome Dokuro… an acquaintance of Mukuro Rokudo, I'm assuming?"

Chrome let out a small squeak of fear when as she quickly unfolded her trident. "Stay—stay away from me." She gasped out, shaking.

Tsunayoshi stepped away, hands up as he gave her a worried smile. "I won't hurt you." He told her softly. "I promise. But I believe that we could help each other…"

"Help each other?" Chrome repeated. "How?"

Tsunayoshi held out a slightly shaky hand to her. "A deal." He replied carefully. "I help you free Mukuro Rukudo and his… _comrades_ from the Vindice and you will help me to destroy the Vongola. Deal?"

It was against her better judgment. Logically, she knew that she shouldn't have done it. Yet something about that warm, accepting smile had pulled her in…

Chrome took the hand and nodded hesitantly. "…Deal."

0o0o0o0o0o0

 **Past – 1** **st** **Generation Timeline**

Daemon liked to think that he was an agreeable man. Sure, he would slaughter someone on a whim and constantly seeked stronger opponents, but, still, he was an agreeable man.

Or at least he was when he was around Elena, he was.

Unless she was with another man, of course, in which case he would instantly slaughter whoever dared to attempt to flirt with his dear Elena.

Where was he going with this?

Ah, yes. Daemon was of the mindset of a typically agreeable man who was polite and didn't try to pick fights, put at the moment the blond man and company in front of him were making even he wish to resort to violence.

Come to think of it, that wasn't exactly a rare emotion…

Ah, well. He'd deal with any violent urges later… probably…

Daemon squished down the urge to hit the man before him, cocked his head to the side and gave the man a puzzled smile. "Me?" He laughed. "Join something as petty as a vigilante group opposing a noble? Hah—amusing, I'd admit, I suppose, but boring considering _who_ those opposing little puppies are…"

The redhead man standing to the right of the blond bristled and the ring on his middle finger lit up with red flames. "I dare you to say that again, Daemon." He snarled.

Daemon's smile stretched even wider. "I would, but speaking to you insects seems to be a bit of a waste of breath."

The black haired man standing behind the seated blond narrowed his eyes and fingered the pistol hanging under his coat threateningly, but said nothing, eyes blazing in disgust.

The Japanese one, the one who had smiled hatefully at Daemon, the one who had barely tolerated him, now stretched his smile even wider and made it even more pleasant. "Please refrain from such rude insults, Daemon-san." He said, his voice soft with forced sweetness.

Daemon raised an eyebrow and slouched in his seat. "Insults?" He repeated as he flashed the entourage a charming smile. "Why would you claim such a thing? They aren't insults—merely the truth."

"That's the worst to the limit!" The loud one who had oddly stayed silent until now spoke up as he glared at Daemon. "If you turn to God then he shall forgive your dark words, though! And you can be politer to the limit!"

The green haired teenager, the youngest of the group, cracked open an eye. "Ore-sama doesn't see why he's worthy of our time." He sniffed. "Ore-sama thinks that Giotto shouldn't associate with someone as creepy as Mr. Spade."

Daemon chuckled. "Thank you."

Giotto met Daemon's eyes firmly. "I want you to join." He repeated. "Please be our mist."

"I'll consider it…" Daemon replied casually, before smirking and raising an eyebrow. "If you get on your knees and bow down to me, then beg me to join."

To his everlasting credit, the man didn't even hesitate before he kneeled on the ground and touched his head to the floor. "Please." Giotto pleaded. "We were friends before, weren't we? Why can't we be now?"

"Friends?" Daemon repeated in amusement, and gave a bitter laugh. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He allowed his mist flames to finally break free and fire began to rain from an ashen sky as the earth beneath Giotto cracked before turning to dust and breaking from beneath him.

The blond's eyes widened in shock before he fell down a chasm of flames. For a moment he just gaped, hand stretched to the sky, before he laughed and activated his own sky flames. "Did you really think that I would get caught by that, Daemon?" He asked cheerily as the room refitted itself to normal.

Daemon gaped at the man. "You broke my illusion." He said, dumbfounded. How?

 _How?_

He was stronger…

Giotto held out a hand and smiled. "So, are you going to join?"

Stronger. And if he was stronger… then for now, Daemon would follow him.

He reached out and grabbed the hand. "Sure." The mist said nonchalantly with a shrug as a smile found it's way to his lips. "Why not?"

 **A/N:** This was sooo hard! The mist are just so… hard to catch. It should probably be the clouds, but the mist's personalities are just so… argh! I could just scream in frustration!


	7. Chapter 7

**Future – 10** **th** **Generation**

Tsuna stared in shocked fear at the small form standing at the doorway of the abandoned building. "Why…?" He finally croaked as he swallowed, standing before his friends, hating himself for how his body was shaking, unwilling to move to his will and run like his instincts were screaming at him to.

Reborn, the greatest hitman in the world, smirked at him. "Is that any way to greet me after this long a time, Dame-Tsuna?" He purred as he pulled out a lethal—no longer containing Dying Will Bullets, but ones that would murder— gun. "Ciaossu, fools who have joined my useless student."

"They're not fools." Tsuna replied defensively. "They're loyal friends."

A wide, deadly smirk from Reborn that seemed to contain a hint of pity spread across the Arcobaleno's lips. "Friends, Dame-Tsuna?" He asked sweetly. "I never knew that a traitor like you could utter the word. You don't seem worthy enough to even attempt to speak like that, let alone actually speak about such things. You abandoned the Vongola and tried to destroy the very man who raised you…"

Takeshi's eyes darkened and he stepped in front of Tsuna, placing a firm hand on the boy's chest when the once heir to Vongola tried to protest. "All that our boss wanted to do was end the sins of Vongola's past." He snarled.

Hayato quickly joined Takeshi in front of Tsuna. "Are you going to claim that doing that was a sin, Reborn?" He asked, all the fear that would have once overtaken him turned to resolve. "Tsuna is more right than your precious Nono. He wants to stop all the bloodshed that Nono accepted when he became the boss of Vongola."

"My, my." Reborn sighed and clucked his tongue. "How do you plan to manipulate these poor little pawns of yours, Tsuna? Or would you prefer that I call them subordinates? I think that it's time for them to warm up in the lake of fire once they get to hell."

He was prevented from saying more when Chrome slammed her trident on the ground and pillars of lava flew up. The ground beneath them began to crack and lava swirled around them as the air cleared itself, filling quickly with thick black smoke and the stench of burnt bodies.

"I've already been to hell." Chrome informed Reborn. "And Mukuro-sama said to protect Boss, so I won't let you lay a finger on him, Strongest Assassin-san!"

"Chrome Dokuro?" Reborn asked in amusement. "I didn't expect your famed illusions to be so weak. I thought that they'd be a lot stronger… after all, you were able to throw off even Viper."

Chrome shivered and Tsuna placed a protective hand on her shoulder. "Don't get involved in this, Chrome-chan." He ordered kindly. "This isn't your fight. Defeating Reborn isn't a option and getting defeated by him will do nothing for us and as for your goal... even if you help, it will do nothing to help him, so I won't ask you. Take Lambo and run, alright?"

"B-but Boss!" Lambo cried out in protest. "Let us help you! Please let us stay… don't leave us behind! Boss…!"

"Lambo, _no_." Tsuna scolded. "Run, okay? This is an _order_."

Chrome's eyes widened. "Boss—you're actually going to do this?" She whispered in a soft, hoarse voice. "Are you sure? Please—please make it out safely. Don't make Bomb-san sad, okay? I've only met you, so I don't know what you're like… I have to learn what you're like, right, Boss? I still don't trust you yet…"

" _Tsuna-nii!"_ Lambo screamed as Chrome faithfully picked him up. "NO!" He screamed as he slammed his fists on Chrome's back repeatedly. " _DON'T LEAVE ME! TSUNA-NII!_ I can help! Don't make me go away, Tsuna-nii…! _"_

"We have to go, Cow Child." Chrome informed Lambo quietly. "Boss's orders are absolute, right? Let's go."

"No…" Lambo choked out. "I don't want to abandon him… I can't abandon Tsuna-nii! That's… this isn't right! Let me down, Chrome! Stupid Tsuna-nii! Stupid Stupidera! Stupid Sword Idiot and Extreme Boxing man…" He seemed to crumple in on himself as he finally rested his head on Chrome's shoulder and started to cry. "I want to help… why can't you let me help you?"

He started crying even harder when he realized that while he was talking, Reborn had attacked, and the battle had commenced without him noticing. His pleas had fallen onto deaf ears as he was dragged from the fight and separated from the ones that had somehow become his famaglia in only a few weeks.

0o0o0o0o0o0

 _Why…_ Tsuna wondered as he dodged the bullets and dashed forwards, aiming a burst of flames at the petite figure that dodged it with an almost insultingly lazy ease. _Why!? How could this be so hard… how can the differences be so big? I don't want to be this weak… I wanted to be stronger… I wanted to be able to stop all this bloodshed, and to be able to protect my famaglia…_

His eyes widened in shock and… could that emotion be fear?... when he realized that he had begun to think of them as his famaglia. No… they weren't famaglia. Perhaps Hayato, Lambo and Hibari could… but the rest? He couldn't… _wouldn't_ … think of them in a way that may insult them.

They were reluctant allies at best… not famaglia. Not to be described with a word that symbolized strong bonds that wouldn't be broken. Not like the bonds that he had oh so casually broken such a long time ago…

Unwilling Takeshi, who, despite his smiles growing less and less hollow by the day and the fact that his laughs were no longer tentative and broken but strong and filled with joy… he had only joined to save the life of his father. He had only joined to temporarily stop Tsuna from committing the sins that he could no longer count.

Unknowing Ryohei, who, even though they had explained the mafia and flames to, could never truly comprehend the darkness of this twisted world that they lived in. Raised as a peaceful civilian, he could never even begin to understand the shades of gray and silver that created this Underground society.

Reluctant Chrome, who had only joined Tsuna out of her duty to repay the debt of saving her life. Though he had told her that she didn't need to worry about it, he knew that she only remained with him because she wanted to repay the debt, and perhaps increase her chances of saving Rokudo Mukuro by teaming up.

How dare Tsuna go and involve these people in this fight? They didn't deserve to be here… not on this battleground, facing the strongest of the most Elite that Mafioso could get…

It should be Tsuna's fate to protect them. His curse, perhaps, that he had to protect them… so stupid of him, stupid to get his emotions involved in this, stupid to face the strongest.

If he were someone else, maybe he could have just run away. Run so far, far away, that he couldn't get any further from Reborn, run so far that he would never get caught or killed…

But that was cowardice, and it wasn't his style. And… his friends were behind him.

Yeah, he was an idiot. But… Tsuna took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes as he rushed forwards, readying another attack… this felt nice, somehow. Like he could be depended on. And, despite knowing that sooner or later he would probably be betrayed… he wanted to stay like this.

 _I want to protect them._

 **Past – 1** **st** **Generation Timeline**

"Dammit, when the heck did we get infiltrated?" Alaude wondered as he swore, readying his gun as he let out a few shots from an open window, then quickly slamming on the wooden shutters and ducking as three bullets flew over his head.

Alaude let lose a few curses that would have made even G flinch (no, wait… on second thought, probably not. The redhead was too crude to flinch at those words—his reaction would most likely be "amazing. I thought you always had a stick up your ***) as he let lose another shot and let out a small smirk at the gasp of shock that ensured when a _thump_ of a body hit the ground.

The ex-assassin would never have guessed that he would one day help to actually _protect_ somewhere for someone else.

"How many on your side, Daemon?" Alaude asked softly through transmitter on his neck as he picked up a gun from the enemy's body, and despite himself, raised an eyebrow, impressed, when he recognized the expensive label.

"Nufufufu…" The other man giggled lightly. "Alive or dead?"

"…Both, I suppose." Alaude replied. "Do you _have_ any alive? Please keep at least one alive… and _sane_ , Daemon. We need to interrogate some people."

"…Let me finish counting. Let's see, 20… 25… 30… wait, did you say alive and say? Nufufufu… you know, you really should have said that earlier, little Assassin… why don't you ask cute little G to do that for you? I don't think that it's really possible anymore… they're all weaklings."

Alaude groaned to himself before sighing and asking, "G? Please tell me that you have some sane and alive…"

"Bah, don't underestimate me, gun man." G's cross voice answered. Alaude could just imagine the roll of the man's eyes as he picked up a fallen arrow. "Giotto and I made a pact a long time ago to never kill, and I'm not all that into making my victims go insane."

"Well, that's nice to know." Giotto's sigh of relief was audible. "I was kind of worried that I was the only one to uphold the deal…"

"Of course not, boss!"

"I told you not to call me that!"

"But boss is boss, and you're my boss!" G's voice protested in a loud near-shriek.

"Yes, but…" Giotto's voice was cut off as he let out a small, strangled sound and his voice turned dark and murderous. "Hey! That was an antique, you know! It's a one of a kind book you jerk! My dad gave that to me for my birthday!"

"…" Alaude sighed as he cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. "Guess I have to take care of you, eh?" He asked conversationally as he dropped his gun, pulled out his handcuffs, and gave a feral smirk to the fifty men training their guns on his chest.

It was a shame, he sighed, that they didn't reply before their death, as they all silently took aim and fired.

0o0o0o0o0

" _Armedes Sphere_." Giotto muttered as his flames erupted into an explosion of sparks. The panicked yells had barely begun before the men were knocked unconscious. Giotto let out a sigh of annoyance.

 _How come they always send weaklings?_ He wondered crossly. _Isn't it better to send someone skilled like Alaude was? Hm, come to think of it, Alaude_ is _only 18 like us… how the heck did he get so strong?_

He was cut from his thoughts when a loud crashing sound echoed through the room. There was a scream of pain before there was a groan.

"Yare, yare, I didn't want to get caught up in your mess, you stupid blond…"

Giotto blinked in shock as Lampo gave him a wide smirk and raised two fingers in a lazy greeting, dipping his head in acknowledgement.

"Well, my father _was_ the one who hired the grunt thugs so I suppose that it _is_ my duty to save you jerks… but you know, wouldn't have talking been better than pulling a fast one and going against father? Do you know what my punishment might be? I don't even want to think about this… urgh…"

"L-Lampo?" Giotto gasped.

"At your service." Lampo grumbled, soundly unhappy about the whole affair. "My dad blew up on me so I ran away from home and… well…" The green haired boy looked slightly uncomfortable as bright green lightening on crackled around him. "I, uh figured that I could help you out somehow if you could help me out and I would…"

He was unable to continue talking, however, because Giotto's wide eyes had finally given up widening any further, and the blond let out a squeal of joy as he raced forwards and wrapped his arms around Lampo in a bear hug.

"Yeeeessss! You finally joined!"


	8. Hurtled Through Time

**Present – 10** **th** **Generation**

 _Faster_. Kyoya wished he was stronger. That he could reach Tsuna in time… _Please. I don't care what happens to me. Just please… please…_ please _… you have to let him be alright. That herbivore… he's strong. He defeated me, after all._

 _Vongola can't defeat him… after all, they're the darkness that the stupid carnivore and his stupid pack will destroy._

Kyoya swallowed the unfamiliar lump of worry in his throat. (Had he called Tsuna a carnivore? No—he was strong. He was a carnivore. But his herbivorous ways… surely he couldn't be a carnivore? Why had he called him one, then?)

 _He can't be dead._ He thought, for once in his life, desperation thrumming in his chest.

When he finally reached his destination—an old, threadbare warehouse that seemed inconspicuous and abandoned with it's cobwebs and chilly air—he couldn't help but wonder, _Is he really here?_

Had he begun to doubt? Kyoya had always lived life this way… never doubting, always confident. So why did he feel like this? Why did it hurt so much?

He dashed up the stairs, barely feeling the earth beneath his feet as he scrambled towards the room he knew the herbivore occupied, the only one with the door closed, the one that was windowless yet safe.

As he flung open the door, the bullet was already escaping Reborn's smoking gun, shooting towards Tsuna.

 _No…_ He thought. His hands curled into fists at his side, and he _moved_.

He couldn't think. He couldn't feel. He didn't know what he was doing. But the next thing he knew, he was in front of Tsuna, his arms wide enough to embrace the knowledge that he was dying. _Why?_ He wondered, confused. _Why am I okay with dying? …This isn't right. What am I doing? Am I really willing to die? For someone like this?_

And some small, warm space inside his cold but confuse heart, answered confidently, _Yes._

"No!" He could hear Tsuna screaming as the bullet bit right in the middle of his chest. Not his lungs. Not his heart. But fatal. Still fatal. "Please… no… Why?" Tsuna's face was blurring, dark spots dancing in his vision.

 _No_. He wouldn't give in. Not like this. Ordinary man would've died in an instant. He'd stall. For as long as he could.

"Ha…" Kyoya chocked out. "Herbivore. You look so stupid, crying like that. You're too… strong… for that…" No, he wasn't. Tsuna's strength was how much he cared, how he cried for people that were often overlooked. But he couldn't bear the thought of him crying. _Please don't look at me like that…_

"No…" Tsuna whispered, his voice hoarse, filled with fear. "NO!"

Kyoya wrapped his fingers around Tsuna's, giving him one last, sad smile. "I'm sorry." He whispered hoarsely before succumbing to the darkness.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Tsuna's body was shaking, and tears were falling out of his eyes, but he was unresponsive as stone. His face, frozen in anguish, stayed like that. Then he froze, and his fingers touched the corpse's chest. "He's not bleeding…" He whispered in confusion. "And he's breathing." His eyes widened. "Why is his heart beating?"

Then, flames escaped his fingers, drawn by the bullet in Kyoya's chest.

 _What…?_

A flash of flames erupted from the bullet, and Tsuna scarcely had time to think, _He's not dead!_ , before they world melted away.

 **Past – 1** **st** **Generation, Meet the 10** **th** **Generation**

It was a beautiful morning, Giotto thought grouchily as he stared out his window. Soft rays of sun hesitantly peeked inside, but it was nothing compared to the bright colors of the outside world. The sky, a brilliant blue emphasizing the soft tufts of white cloud, seemed almost as though it would be tangible, if he were to reach up and try to touch it.

 _What a shame,_ he finished his observations sourly, _That I can't go and see how nice it is. Because of_ something _…_

With a mutinous glare at his paperwork, Giotto tossed his pen down defiantly.

G, who was reading a book while supervising the blond to make sure he didn't try to skip out on paperwork, sighed. "It's still there." He pointed out, raising an eyebrow. "Trying to avoid it won't make it go away, you know."

Giotto pouted. "Shut up." He muttered sourly.

G raised an eyebrow. "Will it make your cursed paperwork go away?" He asked mockingly. "Will it make your situation any better? No? I thought so."

"Just ten minutes?" Giotto pleaded.

"Honestly, are you a child?" G demanded. "Does the word no mean nothing to you?"

For a moment, Giotto looked thoughtful, then he smiled sheepishly and asked, "…Do you really want me to answer that question?"

G groaned. "On second thought, never mind." He muttered. "Go ahead and be free and do whatever."

Giotto's lips stretched out into a wide grin as he punched the air in victory. "Yay!" He cried cheerfully before fleeing out the door. "See ya! Thanks a lot for letting me go!" His cries of thanks continued as he went into the village, but they were hard to hear seeing as he had been far out from the mansion by that time.

G sighed. "That guy's such a handful…" He muttered wearily to himself, then cast a tired glance at the paperwork before standing up and murmuring, "Well, why don't I go for a walk too?"

Meanwhile, as Giotto strolled into town, he stretched his arms into the air, smiling in satisfaction when he noticed that nobody was unhappy to see him. _Despite my decision to join the mafia… they're not mad at me for possibly putting them in danger_. Ah, they were such kind people.

He took a deep breath of the sweet air, letting out a slight sigh of carelessness as a bird softly chirped out a song. Today was a nice day. Nothing could ruin…

 _BAM!_

Groaning as his head pounded in pain, Giotto rose a hand to his forehead, wincing when he felt a large bump beginning to swell before he stared in stunned amazement at the small figure laying on the ground before him, looking around wildly and weeping considerably.

"…Did you just fall from the sky?" Giotto asked hesitantly. Perhaps he was hallucinating or something… yes, his memory must have been jolted. Because there was no way that the small child before him with a dark afro and a cow suit could have fallen from the sky…

 _He fell from the sky._ Giotto repeated the thought mentally, taking in the situation in stride, before he began to freak out. _HE. FELL. FROM. THE._ _ **SKY**_ _!_

"Not that falling from the sky is weird or anything." Giotto panicked, beginning to ramble. "I mean, it's not as if it's something impossible. People fall from the sky every day, right? Ahaha. And just because you landed on my head doesn't mean that it hurts. I mean, it does hurt but it's not that bad. Oh, are you hurt? I mean, my head's pretty hard and my skull's pretty thick. Not like that! I mean, like thick literally, I'm not stupid or anything… I mean…" His heart was racing wildly as the small child stared at him with wide, stunned green eyes.

"…Tsu-nii?" The small child finally whispered in confusion, placing a small hand delicately on Giotto's forehead, causing the blond's eyes to widen as he stopped rambling. "What's wrong? You're acting strangely. Did you get a fever? And why's your hair a different color? Where are we? Lambo-sama wants to know…"

The child's bottom lip started to tremble dangerously, and his lower lip trembled as his eyes watered, glazing over with unshed tears. Giotto began to panic, quickly waving his hands in front of Lambo's. "Hey, hey, it's fine! Don't worry! It'll… all… be…" His heart clenched, and Giotto lowered his head, unable to tell the child that it would all be _okay_ , too scared of being unable to fulfill that promise. "Sorry." He finally whispered hoarsely.

Lambo's young features still were twisted in confusion, and he wrapped his small hand around Giotto's. "You're just pretending that you don't remember everything, right? …This is a joke, right, Tsu-nii? It's not very funny." Lambo's voice trembled ever so slightly. "Lambo-sama's jokes are way funnier… stop joking, Tsu-nii."

Giotto placed a hand on Lambo's head, and pulled the small boy into his chest, ignoring the squawk of surprise. "I'm sorry." He apologized regretfully. "I'm not your Tsu-nii. My name is Giotto. Giotto Vongola…"

In his arms, he could feel Lambo stiffen before he was pushed away, Lambo's eyes wide in fearful panic as his breathing seem to catch in his throat. The child's breath barely escaped his lips, coming out more rapidly than each one before.

"Stop joking!" Lambo yelled, looking absolutely terrified. "This isn't funny anymore! Lambo-sama…" Lambo sniffed slightly, wiping at his eyes. "Lambo-sama's scared… stop…"

"It's not a joke." Giotto replied as gently as possible, slowly inching towards Lambo so that he wouldn't spook him. "My name is Giotto Vongola. I was born in Italy. I'm the leader of the vigilante group that's currently unnamed but residing here to fight the lord who owns this land." Giotto paused. "Are you scared of me?"

"You're not joking?" The small question, escaping the boy's lips, seemed to force reality to settle in, a horrible thing judging from the expression of horror that was beginning to dawn on Lambo's features. "This is really…"

"Yes." Giotto nodded. "I'm sorry…"

"No!" Lambo's scream was one of complete denial as he violently shook his head. "Nonononono… this can't be happening! Please let this be a dream…" But his expression of dread seemed to confirm that this wasn't a dream. "We knew it was going to happen…" He murmured to himself thoughtfully. " _Fiamma Voltage…_ but it wasn't supposed to happen this fast! Lambo-sama knows he destroyed the prints… I was supposed to help Tsu-nii stop them! This wasn't supposed to happen!" His tears came more rapidly than ever. "No…"

Something had lodged itself in Giotto's throat, and he tried to hold Lambo's hand, but the boy whipped his hand away, staring at him fearfully. "What's happening?" Giotto asked, confused.

"This isn't supposed to happen." Lambo whispered. "Lambo-sama thinks…" His cries were soft whines of fear. _Lambo-sama thinks that he traveled to the past._ But he couldn't say it out loud… not to the enemy…

His head hurt.

 _Just a little nap…_ Lambo decided. _Then I'll find Tsuna._ He closed his eyes, and succumbed to the comforting darkness of sleep.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Tsuna checked Kyoya's pulse, and smiled in relief when he found that Kyoya was perfectly fine, seeming only to be asleep, not even unconscious.

"It's been a while since I've seen you smile like that."

Instantly the smile was wiped off his face as Tsuna peeked up to glare at Reborn. "You're not hurting my friends again." He said firmly. "I don't care what you do to me… just don't even think about so much as looking at them."

"No need to worry." Reborn gave his pistol a disdainful look. "Those stupid Bovino switched my bullets while I wasn't looking, and now we've been sent to the past."

Tsuna's eyes widened. "The past?" He squeaked.

"Yes." Reborn agreed, his usually calm and suave voice now a snarl of fury. "So I'll spend all my time on getting us back. Besides…" He scowled at Tsuna. "I'd rather only use bullets for my line of work, and at the moment my only ones are…" The faux child's lips became a thin line, before he stood up. "If you're not gone by the time I've not returned, you'll find yourself dead in an era 400 years before you were born."

Reborn slipped from their location, and slinging Kyoya over his shoulder, Tsuna sent out a silent prayer to whatever deity may be out there that everyone was safe.

 **A/N:** Sorry about this chapter being so late. I had some issues and... yeah. Anyways, I hope you liked it (even though it stank).


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** This is... very late. So, very late... I am unforgivable... but please still forgive me? Um... yeah... Sorry...

 _As the soft, sweet melody of the piano lulled the guests of the room into a sense of security, Bianchi slipped her way through the crowd._

" _It's beautiful." She whispered softly to her younger brother, who stiffened, and ducked his head down._

" _I don't want to hear that from you." He replied, snarling._

" _Now, now," Pleasantly smiling as he made his way up the stairs, Tsuna smiled at Hayato. "No need to be so unpleasant to your own sister. You ought to be kinder, considering how much she loves you."_

 _Hayato wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Don't tell me what to do." He hissed in reply._

 _Tsuna merely smiled in reply, not seeming to be affected by the fury in Hayato's voice. "Of course I won't." He agreed. "But we're friends, aren't we?"_

" _You can tell me whatever you want me to do, and I'll do it." Hayato's voice was sharp. "Just don't talk to me about_ her _…"_

 _Tsuna kept smiling. He opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out, instead his eyes widened and Tsuna started to gasp out as though in pain._

 _Panicking, Hayato ran towards him…_

 _Tsuna was becoming more clear, until he was transparent. And everything faded into darkness._

His eyes slowly opening, Hayato groggily surveyed his surroundings, frowning as his head pounded with pain. _What's wrong with me? The only times that I'm affected like this are when I'm drugged or injured…_ Injured, perhaps? From the fight? A quick survey of his body's condition confirmed his suspicion. His body was scarred, but the proof lay in the fact that his flames were weaker, like someone had forcibly drained him of them… or like he had just tried to battle the greatest hitman in the world. _Tsuna…_ Where was he?

Standing up, Hayato cautiously looked around, frowning slightly when he saw nobody else. Taking in the fact that he seemed at the border of a forest and town, and that he had yet to sprout wings or get dunked in a fiery lake, he assumed that he was still among the living.

 _Have I been transported somewhere?_ He wondered, fighting to gain control of the system despite the fact that his body was refusing to listen to him. The silver haired teen ran a finger along the blades of grass on the ground, and experimentally stuck one in his mouth, spitting it out when a vaguely familiar, yet bitter taste came out. _Not a simulation, then._ He decided. Had Reborn let him get away? Did that mean that…

No. He couldn't waste time guessing things that were completely unreasonable in the first place. Tsuna was strong… _then why isn't he here? Why am I not with him?_

 _Think… think!_ He was the thinker, wasn't he? There had to be some other possibility… _The bullet._ His eyes widened in realization when he remembered Tsuna's words, " _He's breathing…"._ The bullet must have had some other design… teleportation? _How would it get the ener— Oh #$% ._

His flames! The bullet must have absorbed their flames in order to teleport them! Satisfied with his conclusion, Hayato picked himself up and headed towards the town. It would be much better to collect information from town then waste time in the forest trying to figure out how he had gotten there… although, he could do both.

But the most important thing was Tsuna, he reminded himself.

 _Where are you, Tsuna?_

0o0o0o0o0o0

He woke in a whitewashed room, and instantly tensed. The blond man—Giotto Vongola, he recalled with a sick feeling—looked up from a book and smiled at him. "I see that you're finally awake." He noted out loud. "It's nice to see you're finally up."

"Where is the great Lambo-sama?" Lambo demanded. "Tell me this instant."

Giotto smiled at him. "You're in the Vongola mansion." He answered. "You collapsed, so I brought you to the infirmary. I was going to have you healed by my friend, Knuckle, but he said that you just seemed to be a little tired, so we just let you sleep. Do you feel better now?"

Lambo wanted to cry, because he was scared, but Tsuna wasn't here, and he didn't want to cry when Tsuna wasn't here to tell him he didn't need to hold it in. "Hold… it… in…" He whispered, hiding his face with the blanket. He couldn't let his enemy see him when he was weak. Not now… _Tsu-nii, where are you?_

"Hey… are you okay?" He could feel a warm hand on his back, comforting him. Just like Tsuna… but this man wasn't Tsuna. He was Vongola Primo… he was evil.

"Don't touch me." Lambo wanted to snarl, but it came out more of a shaky whisper. _Why does Lambo-sama sound so weak?_

A slightly surprised and—was that hurt?—look flickered over Giotto's features, but he withdrew his hand with a slightly sad smile. "Ah… yes… of course." He murmured. "Are you afraid of me?"

"Of course not!" Lambo snarled. "Lambo-sama—Lambo-sama is strong! Why would he be afraid of you?" He forced out an obnoxious laugh, "If you're nice Lambo-sama will grant you the privilege of being his underling!"

Giotto's face fell, and he asked, "Would you mind it if you didn't wear that mask? I—I don't want you to lie to me. If you tell me that you hate me and would rather see me dead than breath the same air as me, that's alright. Just don't laugh and talk like _that_ … alright?"

Lambo could feel tears coming into his eyes. "Tsu-nii…" He whispered. "Why are you acting like Tsu-nii? You're _Vongola!_ You're—you're not—" He quickly wiped away his tears. "Hold… it… in…"

"I…" Giotto stood up, and looked away, a pained expression on his features. "I'll leave you alone for a while, alright? If… if you want someone or feel hurt… just… call."

"Bleh!" Lambo stuck out his tongue. "Like I would call someone like _you_!"

The corners of Giotto's lips twitched, like he wanted to smile but couldn't do it. "Alright, then. Just know that if you want to, I'll come as fast as I can."

"Hmph!" Lambo crossed his arms and turned his head away. "Don't be stupid!"

But somehow… despite the fact that he knew Vongola was evil… he couldn't help but feel a little comforted.

But just a little. Because he was still, after all, the great Lambo-sama. And he was strong enough to not need to be comforted by anyone.

…Sort of.

0o0o0o0o0

"How's the brat?"

Closing the door behind him with a slight _click_ , Giotto peered wearily at G. "He doesn't seem to have any injuries." He sighed. "But I think that he hates me. Or maybe he's scared of me. I'm not sure which. Maybe both." Running a hand through his hair, he wondered out loud, "I don't look intimidating, do I?"

"You?" G snorted. "Perish the thought. Alaude and the melon head, maybe. But you? Children are more likely to refuse to leave you alone than cower at the sight of you. You're too fluffy and… you."

"Gee, thanks." Giotto snorted sarcastically. "Nice to know that my image is too 'fluffy' to be intimidating. In my next meeting with other Mafia bosses, that'll be what I try to go for. 'Yes, sir, I'm Giotto. You know, the fluffy one? No, no, I'm not weak. What, war? On me? Psh… I'll be easy to defeat, because I'm the fluffy one? Oh, no, uh… I like peace. Peace is for weaklings? Er, well…' Giotto pancake. That's how my future's going to be."

G rolled his eyes. "You'll be _fine_. I mean, you've lasted this long being the fluffy one, haven't you?"

"The _fluffy one_." Giotto groaned dramatically. "I have _not_ lasted this long being the fluffy one! I've lasted this long being… the… uh…"

"The fluffy one." G offered with a conscending smirk.

"No, _not_ the fluffy one!" Giotto insisted with a scowl. "I lasted this long being one of the _strong_ ones. I'm the one… I'm the one with the flames and stuff! I'm the one who everyone underestimated, but grew to respect!"

G snickered. "Sure." He replied sarcastically, his voice filled with pity. "You just keep telling yourself that."

"Wha—I—!"

"Give it up, Giotto." G muffled a laugh as he clapped a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "You'll never escape the fate of being the fluffy one."

Giotto scowled. "I'm _not_ the fluffy one!" He insisted. "Just ask the kid. He'll tell you I'm a grownup who looks cool and respectable and—what are you laughing for!?"

G smiled as he removed his hand from it's place in front of his mouth. "Do you really want me to tell you?" He raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Or do you want the kid to tell you that he thinks of you as the 'fluffy niichan'?"

"He doesn't!" Giotto declared in a valiant attempt to cover up the way that his cheeks were turning bright red.

"Sure he won't." G agreed as though speaking to a child. "Do you want to ask the kid yourself?"

"I—I— _I will_!" Giotto decided as he turned and opened the door to the infirmary (again) and pushed it open.

Their 'guest', a young child with an afro wearing cow print, turned around in surprise and froze when he realized that he was caught red handed at trying to escape.

Giotto gaped. "You're trying to _run away_?" He demanded. "Am I seriously _that_ bad!?"

The young child—his name was Lambo, wasn't it? G remembered it because it was so similar to Lampo's, that brat—scowled, his features darkening as his eyes narrowed at G and Giotto. "Yes, yes you are." He replied in a haughty, yet trembly voice.

G burst into laughter.

Giotto glared at him, before turning back to the young boy and wondering, "What's so bad about me? Why am I scary? Do I look scary? I don't _think_ I look scary! I mean, so what if I'm a mafia boss? I'm still not bad enough that you should tremble around me and try to run away so you won't be near me!"

Lambo's eyes narrowed and he replied icily, "You're Vongola and I _hate_ the Vongola!"

"Oh." Giotto's features fell, and he asked in a soft voice, "Did we do something to hurt you? Is there a reason why you hate us? Or did others tell you bad things about us?"

Lambo's eyes welled up with tears and he quickly swiped at them before muttering under his breath, "Vongola… Vongola took away my family. Tsu-nii…" He hiccupped and wiped his nose on his sleeve, before continuing, "Tsu-nii is constantly in danger because of those stupid Vongola hypocrites… and now he's gone, and…" He burst into tears and then fell silent.

Giotto felt his throat clench as he realized that this "Tsu-nii" of Lambo's must have been from one of those cruel mafia families that Vongola had overthrown to protect civilians… perhaps this Tsu-nii had just pretended to be kind to Lambo, or perhaps he had been desperate to support his little brother, but it seemed that he must have been killed some way or another by Giotto's family, and Giotto understood that that was unforgivable.

"I'm sorry." He apologized quietly and reached out to pat Lambo's head. "I didn't know."

Lambo drew back and knocked his arm away sharply. "You never know." He responded peevishly. "You never seem to realize how far into the deep end you've gone until it's too late."

Giotto's hand returned to his side, limp and useless. "I'm sorry." He repeated softly.

"Sorry doesn't cut it." Lambo replied angrily, but he cast a peek at Giotto and the young boy's features softened. "Well… maybe a little. Because Lambo-sama is quite merciful, after all."

G sat down. "When did this Tsu-nii of yours die?" He asked gently.

Lambo blinked owlishly at him, and then his eyebrows drew together in confusion. "Die?" He echoed blankly. "Tsu-nii never died! He's too strong to die! But he's lonely because of Vongola. They took away his old friends, family, and destroyed his life. And now, because of Vongola, we got separated from him, and he's all alone, and…" Tears welled up in his eyes all over again. "Tsu-nii's biggest fear is being alone… and I can't be with him to comfort him…"

Giotto stared awkwardly as the small child continued to cry, and then placed a hand on his head. "How about this?" He asked. "We'll help you look for this Tsu-nii of yours."

 **A/N:** So, the real "plot" begins! I hope you like it. (Even though it's awful…)


	10. Chapter 10

**Reply to FluffyCanaries:** Yeah, it has been a while. Thanks for your awesome review! Yes, there is some new stuff, and I also love seeing G and Giotto together. Hibird might exist, but he won't be in the past, so it won't impact the story even if he does exist. Sorry.

When he first found himself 400 years in the past, Takeshi thought that this must have been some sort of sick, stupid joke. Maybe Kyoya dying was a joke too. Maybe this was all just an awful, horrible dream that he would wake up from any second…

But it was real. The startling pain that had shocked him when he had accidentally tripped over a dog (but to be fair, he was trying to avoid tripping over a little girl) and landing— _hard_ —on the ground had ensured his realization. When he had conjured his flames, the sick feeling in his stomach just churned all the harder.

He had stumbled around, asking people the date, but they all just gave him the same date—the same, _wrong_ date, and questioning looks.

He felt himself getting tired, could feel his resolve winding down… Takeshi closed his eyes. Why? How? His mind turned to the project that his father had been protecting—the big one, that the Bovino had been working on. Was this it? Time travel? If so, was there a way back?

Did it even matter? If Tsuna wasn't there when he returned to his proper time…

No. Takeshi shook his head, feeling disgusted with himself. Tsuna was a murderer—why would Takeshi care about him? This was a wonderful chance. Now that he was separated from Tsuna, he would be free. And if Tsuna was in the past, his father would be free.

Takeshi ignored the twist in his gut that said maybe he cared about Tsuna, even just a little.

 _He's nothing to me. He tried to kill my father. He's just a stupid, heartless…_

He was just stupid, heartless… famaglia.

Then the sound of fighting reached him, and the stupid (why was he so stupid?) thought of _Tsuna_ was the first thing that popped up in Takeshi's mind.

 _Maybe it's him. Maybe he's protecting someone. Maybe he's confused. Maybe I can find him._

He loathed himself for thinking so much about the man who had taken everything away from him… but at the same time, the desperate wonder of _is he okay?_ Resounded nonstop in his head.

 _When did he become so important to me?_

Did it even matter why Tsuna had suddenly become his world?

Did it even matter why that… that _murderer_ … had become his life?

 _He's not just a murderer._ Takeshi closed his eyes. _Father… he had been a murderer too, hadn't he?_

But that didn't make him something other than famaglia. It didn't make him any _different_ … it wasn't as though he enjoyed killing, something that he had confided in Takeshi hundreds of times.

If the fight might lead him to Tsuna… Takeshi wanted to loathe how he didn't think twice, but he found that the only thing there was hopeless desperation that he could find part of his growing family.

He raced over towards the scene, where a crowd had already began gathering, and then his stomach dropped when he realized that it was simply a swordsman fighting with a pale haired man wielding—were those handcuffs? No, it didn't matter. It wasn't Tsuna, it wasn't Hayato—it wasn't anyone he knew.

He sighed (why had he even bothered thinking that? The chances of it being them were so slim—to find them so soon was stupid, and yet why had he hoped?), and turned to leave when the whispers of, "It's actually happening! Asari-sama is fighting Alaude-sama!" and the complaints of "The loser has to treat the winner to takoyaki, doesn't that seem cheap for a battle so great?"

Asari and Alaude… Takeshi's eyes widened as he spun around. _No... no, it can't be. There's no way that it could be..._ He mentally calculated and cursed when he realized that the math _was_ right—he must have been stuck in the time of Vongola's original founding.

But if they were stuck in this time… if the others were also in this time (Takeshi's stomach lurched when he realized that there was no definite possibility that the others were still in this time—or even alive)… would Tsuna try to kill the founders of Vongola?

Wouldn't that change the future?

But if Tsuna killed Giotto, his ancestor, then he would also cease to exist…

Tsuna wasn't stupid enough to do that… right?

But Takeshi knew that Tsuna, in his stupidity, also cared about people, was self-sacrificing…

Was he willing to erase his own family line and existence just to change the mafia?

But the mafia would still be there… Vongola would just be replaced by another famaglia, right? It wouldn't change anything… surely Tsuna wouldn't do anything stupid… But what if he wasn't thinking clearly?

"Hey, boy." A scruffy looking old man shuffled over to him and held out a basket. "Who do you bet on, Asari or Alaude?"

Takeshi stared blankly at the basket for a moment before shaking his head and forcing a smile onto his lips. "Ah… no, I'm not betting."

The old man's eyes sharpened as he asked, "Why, wouldn't you like to make some nice cash?" Takeshi shook his head again. "Come on, just a little money's fine." The old man coaxed. "It's all in good fun."

"I don't have any money." Takeshi held out his hands, the fake smile beginning to feel as natural as it had before he had met Tsuna. "I couldn't bet even if I wanted to."

"Oh, that's rich!" The man laughed. "Don't have money, do you? I'm sure that you have a little…" His hand inched towards Takeshi's pocket.

Takeshi's hand whipped out and before he knew it he had the old man's wrist in his hand, bent at an unnatural angle. "I said I don't have money." It was almost eerie how he could tell that the smile was _still on his face_.

True fear began to seep into the old man's face and he quickly pulled his wrist away. "Alright." He replied quickly. "You don't have to lie about it, though. Those clothes you have are mighty fancy, and that ring looks quite expensive too—no one's going to buy that you don't have money."

Takeshi stared at his ring. It was still there… but Primo's rain guardian must have also had his. Was that a paradox? If so, what if he changed the past? Was he messing everything up just by being there? In that case, should he kill himself? No… he couldn't.

 _What would Tsuna do?_

Why was that stupid thought always coming back to his head? Didn't Takeshi have a brain and life of his own? Couldn't he do something without Tsuna? This was so frustrating.

He was so consumed in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed that the fighting had stopped, and was cut out of his thoughts when a voice called out, "Hey, boy, let go of the old man's wrist!"

"Sorry." He let go of the old man's wrist, mortified when he realized that he had almost broke it. "I didn't mean to…"

"Don't worry about it." The old man replied gruffly as he rubbed his wrist, eyeing Takeshi warily. "I know not to try to goad you youngsters around anymore… these old bones can't take that like they used to…"

Takeshi flushed as a hand tapped his shoulder. He spun around and froze when he came eye to eye with Primo's rain guardian—Asari Ugetsu. _Nonononono… my day could not get any worse than this…_

"Young man, why were you attacking that elder?" Asari demanded.

"I… um…" Takeshi stuttered, and flushed when he realized how much he was stuttering. "He was trying to get me to bet, and I didn't have money, so I just—" He paused midsentence when he realized that his excuses weren't really all that good. "Sorry."

"Sorry's not a very good excuse." Asari sighed. "Just be careful not to injure anyone next time, alright?"

Takeshi nodded and smiled nervously. "Yeah, alright." He agreed. "Thanks for the advice. Bye!"

"Wait a minute." Another voice cut in.

 _No… it's not… it couldn't be…_ Takeshi turned around slowly and inwardly groaned. _It is!_ Could this day get any worse?

Alaude frowned at him as he pointed at Takeshi's finger. "Where did you get that ring?"

"I… nowhere." Takeshi swallowed. "It was passed down in my family. I got it a long time ago."

"Really?" Alaude raised an eyebrow. "Because that looks an awful lot like my friend's ring."

Takeshi laughed. "Well, a lot of rings look similar." He pointed out.

"Not to that extent." Alaude replied. "Do you mind if we check it out?"

 _Say no…_ "Actually, I do mind." Takeshi replied sharply. "It was a gift from someone who was very important to me, and I'd rather not give it to some random strangers to touch."

Alaude narrowed his eyes. "For defying me…"

"It's fine." Asari cut in, with a frown. "Completely fine. We won't pressure you or anything. It's just that your ring looks very similar to mines… they're practically identical."

 _Because they_ are _the same ring_. Takeshi bemoaned his luck. "Yes, that's very interesting." He agreed nervously. "But I'm sure that you're much too busy to just stand around talking about some ring, right? Don't you have some other things to do?"

"Oh, yes!" Asari nodded. "Alaude, we've got to go find that 'Tsu-nii' of Lambo's, remember?"

… _.What?_

"What?" Takeshi demanded.

Asari turned and blinked at Takeshi. "We're looking for a teenage boy, around your height, but shorter, and with brown hair and a ring. Have you seen someone like that?"

" _Tsuna_." Takeshi breathed. "You know about Tsuna? Why? What did he do to you?"

"He didn't do anything." Alaude cut in, glaring at Takeshi suspiciously. "Why so curious?"

Takeshi frowned impatiently. "Because I'm searching for him to." He replied honestly. "Why are _you_ looking for him?"

"Wait a minute…" Asari stared at him. "Are you one of Lambo's big brothers? The one who Lambo said looked like me… Sushi-niisan?"

"You know where Lambo is?" Takeshi demanded, hating the way that his voice was beginning to crack in relief.

"Yes." Asari smiled. "And we can take you to him right now!"

Takeshi couldn't help the smile that burst onto his face.

He had found part of his famaglia.

Maybe he'd find Tsuna soon as well.

 **A/N:** Feel free to hit me… honestly, if I were you, I'd want to hit myself. It's short, and bad, but… um… yeah…


	11. Foggy

**A/N:** This chapter will probably seem confusing, but it's because Chrome's missing her organs, so I figure that's got to mess up someone's perception of time and stuff, right? So sorry if it feels too sudden, or Chrome feels weak (because she is SO cool and awesome), it's just that she's nearly dead, so… yeah?

Chrome woke up in a strange world, with only the sun man by her side and jumbled up memories in her mind.

"Sun man?" Chrome whispered as she shook his shoulder, swallowing when she realized that despite their surroundings seeming totally unfamiliar, they didn't seem to be stuck in an illusion.

Ryohei groans for a moment, before his eyes slowly blink open, and he gapes at her, before asking, "Where's Tsuna?"

Chrome can feel a lump growing in her throat, can feel herself panicking as she remembers that _nobody is with them_ and what happened, and…

"I can't feel Mukuro-sama's presence." She could feel her throat closing up as she gasped, "Where is he? What's happening?" _Pain._ Chrome pressed a hand against her deflating stomach as her breaths started to come out more quick and short than before. "Mukuro-sama… what's happening?" Fear flooded her senses, and the world seemed to fade around her, and her stomach hurt, and…

A warm hand on her shoulder brought her back to the real world. "Chrome-chan, look at me."' Ryohei sounded scared as he gently shook her. "I'm going to use my sun flames to stabilize you, and you need to tell me _what's wrong_."

Trying to fight away the overwhelming pain, Chrome told him about how she had used to be Nagi, how she had lost some organs, how she should have been dead, and how she couldn't survive without the illusions supporting her.

The terrifying conclusion was that Chrome would have to create illusions on her own in order to save her own life. "I can't do it." She whispered, pulling her knees into her chest. "I can't, I'm too weak, I…"

"You can do it." Ryohei's gently words are the only thing that keeps Chrome from crying. "I believe in you. Before you know it, you'll be up and at them, and we'll go and find Tsuna together, okay?"

Chrome nodded halfheartedly. "I don't have my trident, though." She whispered. "The cow child has it."

"It's okay. We'll find him in time." Ryohei offered her a weak smile, but the lingering fear in his eyes showed that he was starting to panic as well. "It's going to be okay. For now I'll just use my sun flames, and them…"

"And then what?" Chrome hated how her voice was starting to break. "Then we just find him? _How_?"

Ryohei just shook his head. "Somehow." He replied sadly. "Here, get on my back. I'll carry you around so that you won't get too tired, and then we can go and see if we can find him. Sound like a good idea?"

Chrome nodded, her throat closing up. "Yeah." She agreed as she pressed her chin onto Ryohei's shoulder.

Ryohei smiled brightly at her as he pulled her up a little higher onto his back, and stood up. They had barely stumbled a few steps before the sound of cursing reached their ears.

Chrome cocked her head to the side, swallowing when she realized, "It's Italian…" At Ryohei's tilting of the head, she added fearfully, "…and it's using terms that only Mafioso know."

Ryohei looked confused for a moment, before paling and whispering, "You don't think… it couldn't be that…"

Chrome shook her head. "I don't know." She whispered, her eyes prickling again. _We just woke up… I'm just burdening Sun man, and what if we get attacked… what if they want to capture me, and Sun man gets hurt trying to protect me? What if he's taken to Vindice as well, what if—?_

Her panicked thoughts were cut off by the surprised exclamation of, "Is that you, Ryohei, Chrome?" There was a sound of a gasp, and before she knew it, there was a gently hand on her forehead, and the worried whisper of, "What's happened to her?"

She could hear Sun man whispering to the man that she couldn't sustain herself without illusions or her trident, and there was a thoughtful pause, before the stranger asked, "What if she uses her flames without a medium?"

"Impossible." Chrome finally spoke, her vision clearing slightly as she realized that it was Bomber man who had come to them. _That's good_. Her mind decided. Even if he couldn't help her, perhaps it was selfish… but she was glad that there was someone else who was familiar to be with her. It was almost like… no, she couldn't say it. Famaglia was for mafia, and she was the mafia's enemy. She couldn't be like them, as nice as the thought was. If she said it out loud, surely the others would be disgusted with her. "That requires intense training. Even boss can't do it."

Hayato stared at her in surprise. "Mukuro can't produce flames on his own?"

Chrome shook her head. "Mukuro-sama also can't produce flames without a medium, but I meant Tsuna. Tsuna is boss…" She paused uncertainly, and at Sun man and Bomb man's shocked expressions, she added in a small voice, "…Right? A-am I wrong?"

Hayato shook his head. "No, no, you're not _wrong_ …" He replied in a voice that seemed almost hesitant. "It's just that… I haven't heard anyone call him boss since I was his servant and he was the heir to the Vongola famaglia. It just felt a little… strange." He held his hand out in front of his face and stared at it blankly, eyebrows furrowed as though he were trying to figure out a puzzle that only existed in his memory.

"Oh." Chrome flushed. "Boss needs his gloves to channel flames, right?"

Hayato's eyes were still blank, so Ryohei had to tap his shoulder and repeat the question (in a much _louder_ rendition), to which Hayato nodded and pulled his fingers into a fist, ducking his head down. "Sorry." He mumbled. "I just… remembered something."

Chrome nodded, and Ryohei tossed him a look of concern. "We'll find Sawada." Ryohei declared somberly. "For sure."

Hayato offered Ryohei a pale smile. "Yeah." He agreed as he stood up, a forced smile already finding it's way onto his lips. "Well, what are we sitting around for? Let's go find him!"

As they walked out, Chrome made sure that her hand was in Hayato's. After all, as shaky and strange as it was, they were becoming a famaglia. And famaglia was always there for you. _No matter what._

0o0o0o0

Being inside the Vongola mansion after Tsuna had revealed the darkness that was inside it was… unsettling.

Not for the first time that day, Takeshi felt a pang of loneliness wash over him. This wasn't right… Vongola was the center of everything that that Tsuna was against, that Takeshi had learned was filled with darkness. But at the same time, it had been everything that he had wanted as a child…

To be praised by Vongola Nono, his father told him, was a dream come true.

To be against Vongola Nono, his tutors taught him, was a certain death sentence.

To be wary of Vongola Nono, Tsuna warned him, was a way to survive.

But Vongola Nono wasn't here.

He wasn't even alive yet.

This had to be a dream. Because time travel shouldn't have happened in real life, especially not to him. And yet, he had known about the 10 year bazooka. He had known about parallel universes. He had known so much, and yet…

 _And yet, I know nothing._

He stopped at an empty wall. Smooth, unblemished, faint red. So different from his time. In the future, the wall would be filled with pictures, expensive paintings, covered by a suit of armor or a particularly rare flame ring, the silent reminder that Vongola was powerful, rich and strong.

 _This is all wrong._

Barely resisting the urge to throw up, Takeshi looked away. _Lambo_. He thought, half dazed. _Does he feel the same way?_

He didn't know if Lambo fully understood… he was only a child, after all. But being raised in a world as dark as this one, surely he knew enough of this situation to be slightly wary.

But if he was back in this time… and this had never happened… would he affect things so badly that he would never have existed?

But if he created a parallel universe, then he would continue to exist.

But then what about when he went back to the future? Would he then go to the future of this current past, or the future where he belonged?

Takeshi shook his head. _Don't waste too much time thinking about it…_ He chided himself.

"What's wrong?" A slightly amused voice cut into his thoughts.

"Asari-san!" The words slipped out of Takeshi's lips before he knew it, and he instantly flushed, embarrassed at slipping back into Japanese. He quickly switched to Italian, and asked, "What brings you here?"

"We're having lunch, now." Asari replied. "Giotto told me to go get you… are you alright? Lambo said that you would be fine once your mysterious Tsuna came, but from what we got out of him, apparently you time travelled and that sounds like quite a stressful experience, so…"

"I'm fine." Takeshi offered Asari an artificial smile. "I… I don't really have any attachments, anyways. We just go from place to place, so it's not like there's anyone that I really need to return to."

Asari surveyed Takeshi, his eyes dimming slightly, ( _Did he notice?),_ but said nothing except a crisp, "I see." They walked in an awkward silence for a while, before Asari asked, "This Tsuna of yours… what's he like?"

Takeshi froze. "He…" He shook his head and sighed, "I can't quite get a grasp on him. He's kind, gentle, caring… but he's also cold, distant, and independent. He can't really do anything without us, and yet at the same time he's so much higher than us. He's humble, but really, he's far more important than us. Tsuna… part of me hates being with him. He's a reminder of everything that I can't have. But at the same time, he's the light in our dark world. He doesn't belong in the mafia, not really… but at the same time, he was raised to be it's leader."

"It's leader?" Asari prodded, startled. "He's supposed to lead the mafia?"

 _You shouldn't mention Vongola._ The sensible part of Takeshi whispered, and he quickly shook his head. "I… I can't expand on that. It's too important, I can't change the future too much."

Disappointment washed over Asari's features—but with it came understanding, and he nodded brusquely. "I understand." He replied coolly.

"Sorry." Takeshi mumbled as he idly rotated the ring around his finger. "The future… it's, it's complicated. Things aren't quite simple. I think, honestly, being in the past might even be better for Tsuna. In our time he has a lot of people after him…" He paused, and his mind flickered to the sword back in his time… _Prepared to kill Tsuna, a boy he barely knew, a boy he thought he knew, he was going to_ kill _Oyaji…_ "Dangerous people."

Asari stared at Takeshi curiously, gauging his expression. "You think that he'd be better off living here?"

Takeshi twisted his mouth to the side. "Perhaps." He admitted reluctantly. "Not that he isn't strong… because he is. He's the strongest person that I know. But perhaps that's why I can't stand the idea of him holding up all these burdens by himself. The strongest ones are the ones who refuse help the most."

Asari eyed Takeshi oddly, and replied quietly, "You're quite strong as well, _Senor_ Takeshi."

Takeshi shoved his hands in his pockets and shook his head. "I'm not that strong." He mumbled. _Not strong enough._

Asari shook his head, looking oddly sad as he took Takeshi's hand. "You're very strong." He replied. "Perhaps you share more in common with your Tsuna than you think."

Takeshi's eyebrows drew themselves together in confusion, but before he could ask Asari what he meant by that, they had arrived at the dining hall, and began to eat.

 _Strong enough._ Asari thought as he eyed the boy from the future. _But still alone…_

 **A/N:** Sorry that I've been so late in updating. School is a lot more time consuming (which irritates me), but I'll try to write when I can. (However, this is still a side story, so the updates won't be as fast as my other stories... sorry, guys.) Thanks for not flaming me?


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** I'M BACK! Okay, not really. But I thought I ought to give you guys a Christmas present. Happy holidays! Sorry it's so short.

It was nearly midnight when Kyoya woke up.

Not that that made a difference... Tsuna hadn't gotten much sleep waiting for Kyoya to wake up.

"...Omnivore?" Though his voice was cool, Tsuna could see the confusion flicker over Kyoya's features for a second. Coughing slightly, Kyoya sat up and pressed his fingers against the place where he had been shot. "What..." Kyoya shook his head, closing his eyes only for a second before his features hardened into cool apathy. "Report what happened."

"You were hit with a time bullet." Tsuna shrugged. "I think that it was something the Bovino were working on..." His eyes flickered over to where Kyoya had been shot, at the perfect circle in the shirt but the smooth, uninjured skin, and looked away. "Sorry. I didn't mean to get you tangled up in... all this."

"Don't waste time being sorry." Kyoya replied sharply. "Did the others come back with us?"

Tsuna offered him a slow, but hesitant nod. "I think so," He replied, "But I don't really know. I went into town a couple of times, but I didn't see them. There are rumors, though... I heard about someone who was picking fights with people, demanding to know if there was someone who looked like me. I think that's Hayato. They say that there are two others with him, one of them's a girl, and the other one talks more than fights. That's Chrome and either Lambo or Ryohei, I think."

"You think." Kyoya scoffed. "Are you ever sure of anything?"

Tsuna offered Kyoya a wry smile. "Isn't that what i have you for?"

Kyoya pressed his lips together, but didn't respond. "Do you know what time period we're in?" He asked.

Tsuna bit his lip nervously. "...roughly 400 years ago." He replied quietly, glancing away. "When... when Vongola first formed. We're pretty close to the mansion. I've been lying low, because I know that I look similar to Primo, but I don't know..."

Kyoya narrowed his eyes. "Have you done anything, omnivore?" He hissed.

"No." Tsuna shook his head quickly. "I didn't. Not yet. I mean... I won't. Probably."

Kyoya raised an eyebrow.

Tsuna sighed. "I want to just... to get rid of him. It would be so easy, to just kill him, to stop Vongola from ever forming, to stop the darkness..."

"You can't!" Kyoya flinched at the panicked shout that escaped him. "You'll destroy your existence, you'll never have been born, you'll..."

"I know." Tsuna bowed his head and nodded. "I also know that it won't do anything. The mafia will just be led by someone else. You can't stop the darkness from forming. This is like the monkey's paw, no matter what I do, something worse may befall the world."

Kyoya scowled. "That's right. So you're not going to do anything, right?"

Tsuna bit his lower lip, but at Kyoya's raised eyebrow, he admitted. "I've thought about it. I want to stop him, to stop this..."

"You can't!" Kyoya couldn't help the panicked shout that escaped him. "...Omnivore, if you kill him, you'll have _never existed._ "

Tsuna offered Kyoya a wry smile, "Sometimes..." He replied quietly, "I think that it might be worth it."

"It could never be worth it." Kyoya hissed. "If you left, who would help out your Guardians?"

Tsuna flinched. "They're not my guardians." He replied quickly. "That's Vongola's traditions, not mines. And they'll be fine without me. Most of them hate me, anyways. Lambo hates me for taking away Hayato, Takeshi hates me because I'm blackmailing him, Chrome is a wary ally at best, and Ryohei..." He bit his lower lip. "...Ryohei wasn't supposed to get caught up in this darkness. Involving him... I shouldn't have done that."

"You changed them." Kyoya argued, "I don't know how, or when, but they're loyal to you. They care about you."

"No," Tsuna shook his head, eyes lowered. "I can't."

"It doesn't matter," Kyoya pressed his lips together. "They're your famaglia."

"I can't have a famaglia," Tsuna snapped, "And you _know_ it."

Kyoya raised an eyebrow. "I hate the mafia." He finally said. "And I hate crowding. But you... you have a pack." He stood up and turned away. "Don't lie to me, I know that you're going to go find them."

Tsuna was silent, before he finally admitted, "Yeah. I'm going to find them."

"Why?" Kyoya pressed. "Admit it, they're famaglia."

Tsuna shrugged. "They have their own lives." He replied. "I'm still practically a stranger to them."

But he went to try and find them anyways.

* * *

Lambo missed his big brothers.

Hayato, and Tsuna (though he would never admit it), and everyone else.

Back at home, he'd dream of them leaving... of the mafia catching them, of being forced back into that cold, apathetic world and he imagined Tsuna screaming for help as Hayato desperately tried to claw his way to him, he imagined screaming to _stop_ but nobody heard him, because nobody ever heard him...

But when he woke up, Stupidera was there, quietly reminding him that he didn't need to keep it in, and Tsu-nii would be there with a warm smile and holding Lambo's hand, promising that Lambo would never ever be alone, and Sushi-nii would laugh and say that he'd beat up all the bad guys.

Ryohei, saying that he was too extreme to be caught, Chrome, creating illusions of a place with princes and blue skies and freedom as she lulled him to sleep, listening to the cloud man on the phone 'tch' and saying that he could be the mafia with his eyes closed.

Gentle reassurances that made it so that Lambo didn't feel as scared anymore and chased away the nightmares.

Except now, they were gone.

Sent to the past by a bullet that _his_ family conceived.

Chased down by the strongest hitman in the world, all promises that he wouldn't be alone turning into lies, cold dark lies that he had always hated, that had given him hope, that had...

"...Lambo? Are you okay?"

It was Sushi-nii, the door open a little as he stuck his head in. "...Sushi-nii?" Lambo choked out, rubbing at his eyes. (He hadn't realized that he'd been crying...) "Lambo-sama is just fine. You're dismissed."

The edges of Sushi-nii's lips turned upwards in a humorless smile, and he replied, "Well, I'm feeling a bit down. Do you mind if I spend the night with you?"

"If you insist." Lambo replied as coolly as he could manage with tears dripping down his cheeks, trying to avoid looking at Sushi-nii. "...What's wrong?"

Sushi-nii's shoulders lifted in a shrug as he closed the door quietly behind him. "Just... just miss the others, I guess." He laughed bitterly. "I hated Tsuna. Hated all he stood for, hated him and Hayato and Chrome and all the others. But now that they're gone..." He shook his head. "Guess it's true, what they say about not truly realizing what you have until you lose it."

"You didn't lose them." Lambo snapped roughly. "We're going to find them. We're going to get them back. We're going to..." His voice cracked, and any word that tried to escape came out as a choked sob. "We're going to find our famaglia."

Sushi-nii's eyes widened. "...Famaglia?" He echoed blankly. "We're... a famaglia?"

Lambo froze as he realized what he had just said. "I... I mean..." His voice wasn't working, his words stuttered as his breathing became shallow and panicked.

No, they weren't a famaglia, they couldn't be, because they weren't mafia, they hated the mafia, would they hate him now that he had said that, would they throw him away, would...

"What is famaglia anyways?" Sushi-nii asked quietly. He had found his way to Lambo's side, a hand rubbing gently against Lambo's back and the other hand offering Lambo a tissue.

"Father always said that famaglia was home." Lambo replied quietly.

"Then what is home?" Sushi-nii pressed.

"I... I don't know." Lambo lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "You don't know? Baka-sushi."

Sushi-nii offered Lambo a gentle smile, and replied, "Home is where you can be as broken as you want, and the people there will still love all the pieces."

"Then are you home?" Lambo asked quietly.

A conflicted expression crossed Sushi-nii's features, and he admitted, "I don't know yet. I feel like it's wrong, but... when I'm with Tsuna, and you guys, I feel like I don't have to worry. Like I'm... I'm someone special, and no matter what, you'll never judge me."

Lambo smiled brightly, and climbed onto Sushi-nii's lap. "Sushi-nii is very special." He agreed, "And I'll always love you."

Sushi-nii ran his fingers through Lambo's hair. "Thanks, little bro." He replied, a warm smile spreading over his features. "I love you, too."

"I didn't say it to hear it back." Lambo replied, oddly, since when he said it he had never meant it before. He had always said it so that someone would say it back, but now... "I said it so that you would know before it was too late."

Sushi-nii pulled Lambo into a hug, burying his face in Lambo's hair as he replied fiercely, "It will never be too late. I'll always be here for you."

And though he knew of all the darkness of the world, and all the sins of the mafia, Lambo couldn't help but believe it.


End file.
